Dragon Demolishers
by p3pp3rmintt
Summary: Lucy and Natsu get into a disagreement and start going on missions with other people. When a new threat arises against the Dragon Slayers, how will the two come together to fight this new enemy? NALU.
1. Chapter 1

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail***

_This is my first fan fiction and first story I'm publishing. Please let me know what you think. I plan on updating once a week, possibly t_

***The story takes place after the Eclipse Celectial Spirit arc***

**CHAPTER 1**

In the kingdom of Fiore, in the bustling city of Magnolia, Lucy Heartfilia sullenly walked into her apartment and slumped down onto her bed. A little over a month's time has passed since she regained her spirits from their rebellion and set the celestial world back in order. Everything since then has pretty much returned to normal. Letting out a big sigh, Lucy put the back of her hand over her eyes as she laid back, stretching her other arm across her bed. "That was a huge waste of time and energy!" She thought about how her last 3 missions went with her teammates Natsu and Happy. They took 3 small jobs that had decent payouts. The first 2 jobs Natsu caused a bit of damage and a large chunk of their reward went to pay the damages, their 3rd job there was so much that they didn't get any money for the job and actually had to pay on top of that. They had practically to pay what they earned from the other 2 jobs, leaving them to earn almost nothing between all three, and that was before you counted the transportation fees.

Lucy let out a low groan. She moved her hand off her face to stare at the ceiling; however, something pink caught her eye. She let her eyes wander towards the window where, perched there, was the man she was just mentally ranting to herself about. He was crouched next to her window looking in with his bright, olive green eyes, his salmon pink hair teasingly blowing in the wind.

Natsu slide the window open letting in a cool summer breeze. "Hey, Luce!" He had his normal playful grin plastered on his face.

She rolled herself over so she was on her hands and knees and put up her hand. "Oh no! Stop!" She put on her best authority face to prove her point that she was serious.

Happy perched himself on Natsu's shoulder. "Lucy, I heard that if you make a weird face long enough that it might just stick that way." He put up his blue little paw to cover his giggle at his 'funny' joke.

Natsu didn't seem to take her seriously either, letting his grin deepen. "Lucy, you aren't mad still about our mission are you? It was just ONE mission."

She grits her teeth, before raising her voice. "JUST ONE? JUST ONE?! NOOOOO! THREE MISSIONS!" She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to help calm herself down. She looked back at Natsu, his eyes stared blankly back at her. "If we keep losing our payouts from our jobs how am I supposed to pay my rent and buy groceries?"

Natsu's smiled wildly. "We will just have to take more jobs."

Happy raised his paw jubilantly. "AYE!"

Lucy stared dumbfounded at them. Composing her expressions, she sat up on her knees and crossed her arms. "That wouldn't solve anything. The last job we ended up having to pay out of our pocket for the destruction YOU caused." She spitefully scowled in his direction. "I'm tired of spending money repairing damages that were caused on our missions."

Seeing that Lucy is clearly more upset than he thought, he sat back so he was balanced on one knee and one of his feet. He looked down feeling a bit bad. Lucy continued, "Look, I think I'm going to take a few jobs on my own, just for a bit so I can get a couple of month's rent."

Natsu and Happy's faces looked stunned. "But Lucy," Happy jumped off Natsu's shoulder and landed onto her window sill, "we're a team!"

"You both go on missions without me all the time; I don't see why it's a big deal that I want to go on a few without you." She disputed.

They both made a disgruntled look in her direction. "You're serious?" Natsu grumpily asked.

Lucy was starting to feel bad but mentally shook it off. "YEAH!"

"I see. . . . . . Fine then." Natsu stood up, staring expressionlessly at her, his eyes filled with an unknown emotion. Happy looked between his 2 best friends, unsure of what to do. "Happy, let's just go back home." With that, the small blue cat gave one last dejected look towards Lucy.

She watched with mixed feelings as Happy gloomily used his aero magic to bring out his wings and slowly started to fly. Natsu jumped down and began walking away, Happy matching his head level. Lucy crawled over to the window and watched them walk towards their house. Once she watched them turn the corner, she closed her window and flipped the latch to lock it, almost laughing to herself as to how ineffective that was. Her guild members seemed to always find a way into her apartment whether it was locked or not, but it was more for her own piece of mind and to prove that her apartment isn't supposed to be open for everyone to come in at their own leisure.

She grumbled as she got up and stalked to her small bookcase and picked up the book she has been reading in her free time. She sat down on her bed and stared at the pages. After several minutes she realized that she was just staring at the words, not letting them register because her mind is too focused on the crestfallen expressions Natsu and Happy left with. She abruptly closed the book and set it next to her on the bed.

She laid back down with a sigh. "It's not like I SHOULD feel bad. They did most of the destroying and still go on quests without me. UGH! Why do they make me feel guilty?" She closed her eyes and thought about her predicament. "I need the money for rent, it's my biggest priority. I will just have to worry about feelings later." She frowned at herself, conflicted with emotions.

Lucy picked up the book and walked over to the shelf and placed the book where it belonged, knowing she wasn't going to focus on it like she wanted to. She glanced at her desk and couldn't help but let a small smirk escape as she saw her favorite picture. It was a painting Reedus made right before her and Natsu left on their first mission. He gave it to her shortly after she returned from the 7 year time lapse and she has treasured it ever since. Lucy picked it up and looked at the expressions on Natsu and Happy's faces as she smiled at them. She returned the painting to it's home, clenching her fist in front of her. She determinedly told herself, "Okay, I'll go to the guild tomorrow and get a request or two so I can just get them out of the way and then I'll make it up to them!" She smiled at herself. She started to bustle around the apartment, preparing for a few missions in advance and tried to figure out what she would need.

The next morning at the Fairy Tail guild hall, Natsu and Happy lingered at the request board. "Well, we should just take all of the solo missions so she can't leave us behind." Natsu, pleased with himself, looked over to Happy.

Happy frowned up towards him. "But Natsu, that just proves what Lucy said yesterday. We do go on missions without her." Happy looked back at the board. "Maybe we should just let her do a few on her own and get it over with. She did say it was only a few so she could pay for rent. It's not like she's replacing us or anything."

Natsu's face was expressionless as he listened. _Happy was right, they weren't being fair to Lucy and he just needed to admit it to himself._ "Fine then, let's just go to the bar and get some breakfast. It doesn't look like there are too many missions available today for an individual to take anyways. Who knows, she might come over and ask us to come." He smirked at himself. Happy stared at him and sighed. Natsu's logic, if you could call it that, was goofy sometimes.

While they sat down at the bar and ate their breakfast, the guild hall slowly filled up. Natsu entertained himself with talking to Lisanna and getting into a small brawl with Gray, breaking a few tables in the process before Erza stepped in. Natsu and Happy sat in the middle of the guild, discussing whether they should just head out to go fishing for the day or wait until tomorrow when Lucy strolls in. She smiled at them with a little wave of her hand and saunters over to the request board. She stands there looking thoroughly at each request and slowly makes her way to the bar with a disappointed look. "Mira, are there any good jobs for someone to take on by themselves?"

Mira looked over to Lucy, surprised. "Lucy, you want to do one by yourself, that's unusual."

Natsu listened across the room, raising his cup to his mouth taking a long drink, letting Happy talk about where he wants to go fishing and what types he wants to catch.

Lucy sullenly slid into one of the bar stools next to Cana, "Well. . . I have to pay rent soon and need to actually make some income on a few of the jobs I take."

Mira chuckled. "Oh Lucy, I get what you mean. Well I know the master is looking over the jobs to be posted for the next few days, so maybe by Thursday."

"THURSDAY?!" Lucy groaned putting her head on the counter. "That's 3 whole days away."

"LU!" Lucy turned her head on the counter towards Levy who was making her way over to them. Her blue curls bobbed with every bouncy step she took. Lucy couldn't help but smile a little. "Lucy, are you looking for a job to go on?"

Natsu's turned his head to get a better angle to listen to the new development of the conversation.

"Yeah, Levy, but there aren't any I can do myself and I need some money for rent." Lucy sulked.

"Well Lu," Levy said gleefully, "my offer still stands for you to join Shadow Gear."

Natsu completely turned his head towards the bar, now utterly forgetting about Happy's 'exciting' fish talk. _Lucy wouldn't. She.. She couldn't.._

Lucy sat up cheerfully. "Really Levy?! Are you sure?" She paused. "What about Jet and Droy, what would they think?"

Levy waved it off. "Oh, they won't care. Actually we could go on some harder missions with another person on our team so it might be really beneficial."

Lucy laughed. "Well I won't be THAT much help. I feel like I don't attribute much to our team as it is." She looked down at her hands as she rang them together. "Are you sure you guys want to invite me on your team?"

Levy grabbed Lucy's hands. "Are you kidding? Lu, you're amazing! I've seen what you can do and trust me, you are an asset to any team!"

Cana leaned over and added with a slight drunken slur, "Oh yeah, Lucy here is awesome! I would have totally . . totally made S Class if the trials weren't interrupted. She figured out where Mavis' grave was."

Lucy blushed with the compliments. Mira cheerfully listened to their conversation until she noticed Natsu across the room pointedly staring in their direction. She bit her bottom lip with concern. Lucy's voice broke her train of thought. "Levy, I will totally go with you guys, but only for a couple of missions." Mira glanced back and forth between Natsu and Lucy, knowing he clearly heard the entire conversation and Lucy is still probably unaware. She let out a soft sigh and began cleaning up another glass.

Lisanna appeared behind the bar and stood near Lucy and Levy. "Hey, what's up?"

Mira watched from her peripherals as the pink haired dragon slayer got up and swiftly make his way over to the bar in their direction. Her large blue eyes trailed back to the oblivious celestial mage, having a foreboding feeling.

Levy piped in, "Lucy is joining Shadow Gear! Isn't that exciting?!"

Lisanna, shocked by this news, looked to Lucy for confirmation.

Lucy smiled at Levy's enthusiasm. "Ha, it's only temporary."

"What's only temporary?" Lucy froze, suddenly feeling impending doom in where this conversation was going. She turned around in her seat to see Natsu standing there. He didn't look like he was in the best of moods with his arms folded and his jaw tight. She swallowed hard, not knowing what to say and stared at him cautiously. She wondered how much of their conversation he heard. "What's only temporary?" He asked again, his eyes hardening slightly.

Before Lucy could respond, Lisanna announced, "Why Lucy joining Shadow Gear of course!" Lucy glanced at Lisanna knowing she shouldn't get mad at her since she only knows a little of what's going on. She turned back to Natsu, meeting his edgy olive eyes.

"It's only temporary for a few missions." She smiled weakly at him.

Natsu frowned as Happy landed on Natsu's left shoulder, whining "Lucy, you said you were going to go one a few solo missions, not find a new team." Happy's broken-hearted face struck a chord in her heart.

"No, Happy it's not like that. ."

"How isn't it?" Natsu's irritated voice brought Lucy's attention back to his face. His frown deepened and his eyes looked like they were a mix between anger and sadness. _Great!_ Now she felt really bad.

"Guys, I told you that I need to have a few jobs to pay rent, that's all that I'm doing. There aren't any good solo jobs currently up on the board and Mira said the next ones posted will take 3 days; 2 at the earliest. This is only going to be for a few jobs." She smiled encouragingly to them.

Natsu clenched his teeth as he weighed her words. Happy frowned disappointedly. Lucy let out a small sigh, not knowing what to say more. "Lucy…" Hearing Natsu's voice dragged her out of her inner turmoil. "We could go on another mission or two. ." She listened to his offer, getting a little frustrated that he didn't remember why she was originally looking for missions without them.

She pointed to the corner of the guild where the broken tables and chairs were piled from today's earlier brawl. "Who are those from?" She internally cringed; those words came out a little too harsh.

The group turned to where she pointed; Natsu winced at the direction of the conversation, knowing she was going to make some great points. He glanced back at her and sheepishly grinned as he scratched the back of his head with his right arm. "Oh that, you know. . . The usual."

Lucy sighed. She figured as much. "Natsu, what's the point of taking on jobs with you to earn money when you destroy EVERYTHING. It feels like such a waste of time and energy." She closed her eyes and started to rub her left temple. "Not to mention that I do actually need the money to maintain apartment that you and Happy are always breaking into. Plus I feel like I have to always restock my fridge since you both eat everything."

She opened her eyes to see Natsu staring at the floor clenching his fists, his expression is livid. He spoke hoarsely, "Waste of time and energy?" He looked at her, meeting her big brown eyes. She realized her mistake in her word choice immediately.

"No. . . Natsu, I didn't mean it like that." Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked away, biting her bottom lip. How could things spiral out of control so badly so fast?

"You know what Luce, do what you need to!" With that, he stormed out of the guild with Happy flying slowly trailing behind. Before Happy went out the doors, he gave one long look to Lucy and took off flying.


	2. Chapter 2

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail***

**CHAPTER 2**

Lucy felt like crying. Levy bit her lip, and exchanged a matching guilty look with Lisanna, both clearly blaming themselves for how their guild members conversation unfolded. Mira looked at Lucy with pain and tried to think of a way to improve the atmosphere.

"Well…" Lucy began, tearing everyone else from their own thoughts. "I guess we should hurry up and just do the missions. Natsu will be in a bad mood for a few days, so there isn't any point in delaying it further."

Levy's eyes widened. "Lu, are you sure?"

Lucy knew that she would rather go after Natsu and try to explain what she meant, but she was pretty sure he would be stubborn about being upset since she still planned on going on the missions. She put her head on the counter, fighting back tears. "I feel like the worst friend. I didn't mean it like that."

Mira smiled softly at her. "Oh Lucy, we all know how Natsu can be. Heck even Natsu knows it. He will come around and understand."

"I know what to do!" Cana spoke up. Everyone looked over at her interested in a good idea. She stumbled off of her stool and made her way over to a small group of the guys. She slung her arm around Max while joking with Reedus and Warren. Everyone let out a soft sigh, clearly exasperated.

"Hey Lucy . . ." Lucy looked up Lisanna, who looked deep in thought with her finger under her chin. "Maybe I can cheer up Natsu and Happy for a little bit while you are gone."

Lucy perked up at this, knowing Lisanna is an old friend of theirs. "Really?! Oh thanks Lisanna! What do you have in mind?"

Lisanna smiled. "I'll just keep them busy while you're gone so time will pass faster."

Lucy and Levy seemed to agree that it would probably be best while Mira gave her sister a wary look.

"It's settled then! Lu, when do you want to leave?" Levy was eager to go on a mission with one of her best friends for the first time.

"I'm ready when you are!" Lucy and Levy made their way to the request board as Mira stared sternly at Lisanna.

"Lisanna, how do you plan on keeping Natsu and Happy busy while Lucy is taking missions with Shadow Gear?" Mira asked curiously.

Lisanna turned away so she could start getting some cooking supplies out to help with dinner. "Oh, you know. . . Maybe have a fishing day and wander through the forest for an afternoon." She paused. "Go on a few missions. ."

"Lisanna…" Mira began.

"Mira, please don't start that again." Lisanna huffed out before Mira could continue. She turned back and countered her sister's worried look with her own determined one. "I can go on missions without you and big brother Elf to be there. You both just need to give me a chance." Mira stared with uncertainty. "Mira, I am strong enough to do missions on my own, but you don't have to worry about that since I will have Natsu and Happy with me." She smiled at her sister. _Natsu was one of the strongest in the guild, how could Mira say no? _

"Lisanna. . I understand your point, but I don't think that your ready to go in a small group like that. How about joining a larger group. I'm sure Elfman wouldn't mind. ."

"MIRA! I don't want to have to ALWAYS work with you both. Don't get me wrong I love you both so dearly and I feel blessed to be back, but I don't need to be protected like that." She glared at her older sister, blue eyes flashing angrily.

Mira turned away stubbornly, clearly not going to give in.

"FINE!" Lisanna stalked away.

Once the Lucy included Shadow Gear team departed, showing Mira the 4 jobs they plan on doing all together, Master Makarov requested Mira to join him in his office.

"Mira, Lisanna just spoke with me." Makarov stared at her big blue eyes, knowing he'd have to stay firm. "Everyone in the guild needs to be able to take care of themselves. I've let you be overprotective of your sister, but I can't let you hold back a member of our guild like this." He let out a long sigh. "I understand that it is hard for you and brother because you don't want to lose her again, but please. . You also have to give her a chance at success."

Mira stared at her hands folded in front of her. "Master. . I. ." She took a deep breath, trying to ground herself. "I understand." A lonely tear traveled down her beautiful face and hung there. _He was right, but it wasn't easy to accept._

The master had to look away, knowing how heartwrenching this must be for the young lady.

Mira slowly made her way back to the bar and focused on making dinner, knowing the rush of hungry members would be coming in soon. Lisanna was across the guild hall talking with Cana and the small group of people she was hanging out with. She avoided looking in Mira's direction, knowing that she wouldn't be able to bear her sister's sadness that she caused. She had to push those feelings aside so she can finally prove to her overbearing siblings that she could take care of herself and they don't have to worry.

Natsu and Happy wandered around until evening, hardly speaking a word even to each other. As they walked through town, Happy sadly looked at the park they were passing. "Natsu…" Natsu didn't acknowledge that he heard anything. With a low sigh, Happy flew into the park. Natsu's gaze followed the little blue cat all the way to the large cherry blossom tree. Natsu hardened his jaw as more happy memories of Lucy rushed to him. He walked to where Happy was sitting, looking up at Magnolia's prized tree with appreciation. "Natsu, remember when we dug up the tree and put it on a boat so Lucy could see it when she was sick?" Happy reflected fondly.

"Yea." A fond smirk escaped. His eyes wandered down to Happy. "Happy, am I being too hard on Lucy?"

Happy stared at his salmon pink haired friend thoughtfully. "A little. Lucy made some good points earlier. Our team is pretty destructive."

"But she said. . She said that it was all just a waste of time and energy." Natsu huffed back, turning away from his little blue friend.

Happy flew to Natsu's head level. "I don't think she meant it like that. I think she was talking about the money part. Natsu, Lucy has always loved going on our adventures and has plenty of opportunities to leave and join other teams."

Natsu turned and plopped down on the ground. He put his chin on his hands and thought about their dilemma. Happy landed next to him and touched his arm, pulling him from his thoughts. "Natsu, we should talk to her before she leaves. She might be gone for 4 or 5 days."

Natsu stared at Happy. "You're right little buddy." He smiled with purpose. "Let's go talk to her before she leaves."

"AYE SIR!"

With that they sprung up and raced to her apartment.

Upon arriving, Natsu found the window locked. Happy quickly flew up and went through the chimney and unlocked it. Natsu pounced into her apartment to find it empty with just one lamp lit up as she always left it. Natsu sat on her bed, perplexed. Where could she be? She wouldn't just rush out today; they would probably leave in the morning. He laid back on her bed as Happy flew over to invade her fridge for the stock of fish she kept there for him.

Several hours later, Natsu was getting impatient. He looked out the window and saw that it was getting dark. A frown formed on his face.

Happy, still gnawing on the fish bones spoke up between slurps. "Do you think…. that she already… left?"

"Knowing Lucy, she will have to pack and even her rushing takes time. I think she probably leave in the morning." Natsu replied as he stretched back across the bed and stifled a yawn.

As the sun peaked into Miss Heartfilia's apartment the next morning, a certain pink haired dragon slayer awoke. As he stretched his arms and yawned, he looked around. "Hmm . . . It looks like Lucy never came home." He looked over to Happy still asleep on the bottom edge of the bed. Natsu gave one long look around. He picked his little blue friend up and went out the window, closing it behind him.

Lisanna found Happy and Natsu near their typical fishing spot. Casting her own fishing line out into the water, she surprised them. Natsu greeted her with a simple, "Oh, hi Lisanna." He looked like he almost hoped it was someone else.

"Lisanna! What are you doing here?" Happy asked excitedly.

Lisanna flashed him a grin. "Oh, you know, just fishing with my family." Natsu stared blankly at her before returned his gaze to the lake. Lisanna tried not to frown knowing he was still moody from yesterday.

"Lisanna." She turned back to Happy who was hovering next to her. "Did. . Did Lucy already leave with Shadow Gear?" Lisanna's smile faltered for a moment as she glanced back to Natsu. He didn't seem to be listening, but it was always hard to tell since he had such great hearing. She slowly looked back at Happy's curious face.

"Yeah, they all left yesterday shortly after you both left the guild hall." Natsu let out a little huff. She looked at his back. _I guess he was listening._

Happy looked down solemnly. "Oh. Okay." He flew back to Natsu's side and sat there. She strained to not to show her disappointment.

Taking a seat on Happy's other side she looked out towards the lake. "Ya know, we could go on a small mission or 2 before she comes back." Natsu didn't move, his gaze still fixated on the water. Happy turned to Lisanna curiously. "She won't be back for about 10 days, possibly more."

That brought Natsu's gaze to her face. "Oh, why is that?"

Lisanna's blue eyes caught his olive green, "Team Shadow Gear accepted 4 jobs, they wanted to do them all at once since the locations were so close to each other."

Natsu mentally winced, hearing her include Lucy in Shadow Gear like she was meant there. To him, it's Lucy and the Shadow Gear team, not just Team Shadow Gear. He bit the inside of his cheek as he let his gaze wander out to the lake once again.

"Soooo. . . What do you think? Want to go on a few requests with me? We can start tomorrow." She looked back out to the lake, watching the water surface ripple peacefully. "We never really got the chance to do many before I was taken to Edolas. I've always wanted to go on adventures with you both." Her bright smile was almost memorizing.

"I don't know . . ."

Lisanna wasn't going to be let down this easily. "Lucy did ask me to spend some time with you guys while she was gone. What better way to do so than to go out on quests?" Happy stared at Lisanna while Natsu only glanced quickly before looking down at Happy.

"Well, since we aren't doing anything until Lucy gets back, we could use some extra food money." Natsu finally replied, looking once again at Lisanna's eager face.

Happy stared at Natsu with an unreadable expression. Before letting out a small sigh and staring at the water. "Where are all of the fish?" He rubbed his grumbling tummy.

Lisanna couldn't help but giggle. Happy can be really bright sometimes, but he is still a cat. She looked over at them fondly and couldn't help but feel warmth in her heart.


	3. Chapter 3

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail***

**CHAPTER 3**

5 days and 2 request jobs later, Natsu and Happy return to the guild with Lisanna falling in step shortly behind them. "Hey everyone! We're back!"

"Hey Natsu, Happy, Lisanna. How did the mission go?" Master Makarov asked while he sat at the bar next to a very quiet and busy Mirajane.

"Oh everything was amazing!" Lisanna beamed at the old man. She took a quick look at her sister before looking back at her friends. "So guys, what do you want to do now?"

Natsu sat down at the bar. "Well. . . I am getting hungry. Mira, do you have anything already prepared that I can eat." He watched her hopefully.

Mira didn't look up at anyone, but curtly replied, "I have some stew I made for lunch, I'll go make you a bowl." She turned and started to walk away, but stopped after a few steps. For the first time since they walked in the door, she looks at them. "Can I get anything else for you?"

Her blue eyes met Lisanna's, triggering the younger sister to look away. "No, thanks Mira."

Once Mira came back, Natsu looked between her and the master while Happy asked, "So has Lucy come back yet?"

Mira smirked and leaned over the bar. "No not yet. They probably won't return until sometime next week. I have gotten 2 thank you cards from the jobs they completed. Apparently the clients were very pleased." Mira shifted her gaze to Natsu.

He was wearing a perplexed look on his face. "Clients send thank you notes for completed jobs?"

Mira laughed at this. "Some do if they are really happy with the job done. Though, we don't get too many from your jobs." She jabbed the joke lightly.

He smiled cheekily. "Yeah, I guess I need to work on that."

Makarov put his hand under his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll make a yearly prize, whoever gets the most appreciations sent back to the guild for jobs well done in a years' time will get a prize." He looked to Mira for her input.

She smiled cheerfully. "That's a great idea Master! Everyone loves a little competition and it'll be great motivation for people to not be as . . . destructive . . ? during their jobs."

Natsu stretched as he finished his stew. "Thanks for the grub Mira. C'mon Happy." They turned to leave. "See ya later Lisanna!"

As they walked through Magnolia, Happy chattered away about what fish he wanted to give Carla next time they see her. Natsu was listening until he noticed they ended up in front of Lucy's apartment. Happy stopped talking as he flew up and gloomily looked into her window. He looked back at Natsu who was still standing in the street conflicted. Making up his mind, he leapt up onto the roof outside of her window and peered in. The apartment was unchanged. He slid the window open and hopped in with Happy close on his heels. Natsu took in a deep breath, absorbing Lucy's scent in her room. He set down his bag and went to the restroom to clean up a little (he didn't want her to be more angry with him by causing a big mess). He came back and laid on her bed. Soon, Happy grew bored and went over to Lucy's desk to start digging through her things. "Natsu, I found Lucy's newest novel that she is working on!"

Natsu sauntered over to her desk and started reading through her latest work.

Happy didn't find joy in watching Natsu read, so he continued rummaging through her things on the desk. He soon spied the painting of the trio. He picked it up and brought it over to Natsu, setting it down on top of the manuscript he was reading. They looked at each other and couldn't help but smile.

"We sure have a lot of fun with her." Natsu stared at that smile, feeling a bit helpless that he didn't get to straighten everything out before she left.

"Aye, even though she can be weird." Happy grinned at his pink haired friend. He couldn't wait for her to return; _Lucy always knew how to make it lively_. Happy and Natsu spent the remainder of the day and far into the night telling favorite stories on adventures they went on with their best friend.

On a bright and early Magnolia day, Gray Fullbuster decided to take a stroll throughout the city. He wandered aimlessly going through all of the streets. He told himself that he just needed to stretch his legs, which honestly wasn't too far off. He had grown restless, it's been too long since his whole team when on a mission together. Since Lucy was temporarily gone with team Shadow Gear and rumors that her and Natsu have gotten into some big argument, who knows how quickly they will go out as a whole unit. He's been taking solo missions and went on a few with just Juvia, but is missing his team more than he wants to admit. Even Erza was telling everyone that she looks forward to a group mission. As he rounded the corner to the street that Lucy's apartment was on, Gray ran face first into that "dolt" who ran off Lucy to another team.

Gray ground his teeth as he got up. "Watch where you're going LAME BRAIN!"

Natsu looked confused and a little surprised to see Gray there. He jumped to his feet fire in his eyes. "Who are you calling Lame Brain? ICE BREATH!"

Gray was about to let another insult slide out until it hit him. "What are you two doing on Lucy's street?" Gray observed that Natsu had his travel pack and looked like they were about to leave or just returning from a trip. According to Lisanna yesterday, they returned then and weren't planning on going anywhere today.

Natsu exchanged a peculiar look with Happy before responding. "Just walking by, seeing if Lucy came home." He paused. "She hasn't."

Gray narrowed his eyes. "Why do you have your travel gear? You got back yesterday and it's too early still to pick up a new job today."

Happy looked at Natsu nervously. Natsu held his ground. "What? I can't walk around with my supplies? It's good training carrying it around regularly so it won't feel like such a burden on our requests. Geez, Gray." Natsu looked away, letting a little fire escape his mouth. "You should try training once in a while."

Gray started to grind his teeth again. "You can train all you want but it still wouldn't help you keep up with me."

Natsu took his baited words. "Whatever Frosty! I could do anything ten times better than you!" He grinned challengingly back.

"HMPFT" Gray snorted at his antics. Peering down Lucy's street, Gray looked again at Natsu. _Oh. He didn't._ "NATSU! Did you. . . Have you . . ." He looked incredulously at Happy. "Did you guys stay in her apartment?"

Happy started to stammer about something but Natsu just looked away, giving Gray his shoulder to look at. He clearly wasn't going to answer. Gray pulled his hand across his face. "Geez Natsu, I didn't know that you were such a creep, even though I should've guessed. Or are you just a pervert?"

Natsu snapped his head towards Gray. "Look who's the pervert, ice pants!"

Happy chipped in, "What pants? Gray is in his boxers." The little blue cat put his hand over his mouth as he chuckled.

"WHAT?!" Gray looked down and sure enough, boxers. He glared up at the duo. "Well at least I don't run my team members off so they feel like they need to join other teams. Geez Natsu! How selfish can you be! You're not the only one that Lucy is teamed up with!"

Natsu's green eyes flashed dangerously. "It's temporary. She needed some money for rent. It's not like I'm the only one who destroys things on our missions."

"Ha! You cause a majority of it. Then you get mad when she goes out to make money with other people. Isn't this the first time she's ever done that?" Gray waited for a response, but it was clear he wasn't getting one from the glaring pink haired dragon slayer. "Then you go off with another member in the guild on missions, practically replacing her!"

Natsu turned his gaze to the ground. "Lisanna insisted that I should keep busy while Lucy is gone. She. . . She said something about talking to Lucy and she was okay with it."

Gray frowned at this. "Natsu, you numskull." Gray picked up his scattered clothing and stalked off towards the guild. Natsu stood there, fists clenched, thinking about the conversation with Gray.

Happy, trying to lighten the mood, looked back to Natsu. "I wonder how much money Gray spends on clothing since he's always stripping and losing his clothes."

Natsu turned and smirked at his little blue friend. "Yea, must cost a lot, he must be trying to clothe the homeless or poor across the country." Happy's smile widened.

They headed back to their own home.

Happy looks at Natsu. "I wonder how much Lucy spends on clothes."

Natsu looks thoughtful for a while as he continues walking. "I'm sure it must be a lot."

"Aye! She is a girl, and you know what they say about girls and clothes. They will spend all of their money on it."

Natsu laughed. "Well that and hers always get destroyed."

Happy smirked. "You like it when that happens." Natsu did respond, so Happy continued. "You LIIIKKKKEEEE her." Natsu didn't show any sign of hearing his friend, so Happy got bored of the joke. "Well I think it is your fault her clothes get destroyed a lot of the time."

Natsu grudgingly looked over to Happy. "So not only do I ruin our missions, now I destroy clothes?"

Happy frowned at him. "Well fire does burn Natsu, what do you expect."

Natsu thought about this. "I wonder, do you think we should take Lucy shopping with us next time I get clothes? She might need to get fire resistant stuff. I know it costs more, but she won't go through as much."

Happy smiled in agreement. "AYE!"

They made their way to their house, and unloaded their trip supplies and headed to go fishing.

Lisanna comes bouncing up to Natsu and Happy the next day. "Hey guys!"

Natsu turns and smiles. "Hey Lisanna!" Happy responds something similar to Natsu's response, but in inaudible from the fish lodged in his mouth.

"So since Lucy shouldn't be back for another 4 days, do you guys wanna do another job?"

Natsu and Happy exchange looks "Lisanna . . ."

Lisanna cut off Natsu before he can say anything. "Oh come one!" She smiles sweetly at him.

Natsu scratches his messy salmon pink hair, and wonders what the best thing to do is. He looked at Happy. "Sure." He responded slowly. Lisanna jumped up in excitement and raced over to the request board. Happy looked questioningly over to Natsu. "Well if we take on a few extra jobs, maybe we will have enough money to buy Lucy a few fire proof outfits."

Happy jubilantly responded, jumping in the air, "AYE, SIR!"


	4. Chapter 4

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail***

**CHAPTER 4**

The next day, Lucy and team Shadow Gear walk into the guild hall. Mira looks up surprised. "Oh, welcome back every. You made it back a few days early!"

Levy walked up to the bar with the blonde celestial mage close behind. "Yeah! Lucy was totally awesome and really made everything go smoother." She paused as Lucy was about to sit down on one of the stools. "Plus Lu here was excited to come back so she could talk to Natsu." With that, Lucy almost fell off of the stool, blushing.

"LEVY!" She looked around sheepishly. No one else was nearby. Levy and Mira laughed. Once she was situated on the stool again, she looked up at Mira. "Mira, could I bother you for a glass of iced tea please?"

"Oh, it isn't a bother at all!" Soon, Mira returned with the beverage. Levy made her way back to team Shadow Gear giving her blonde friend a small departure wave with the back of her hand.

Lucy stared at her drink, lifting her fingers as if she is testing the temperature of the outside of the cup. She slowly wiped her hand across the sweating surface, pulling her hand back to find it wet. "Mira . . ." Lucy picked up the cup, rotating it so the top of the beverage teased the brim of the glass. She stared into the depths of the cup. "Have you seen Natsu and Happy? How are they?"

Mira lightly chuckled to herself. "Oh they are back to their normal selves." Mira smiled sweetly at her.

"That's great!" Lucy released the tension she had built up. "Has Lisanna been keeping them busy?"

Mira's expression faltered slightly. "Y . . Yes. They have been pretty busy."

"Where is Lisanna, I want to thank her." Lucy smiled hopefully.

Mirajane picked up a glass and started cleaning it, looking away from Lucy. "She went on a request. She will be back in a few days."

Lucy looked down at her tea, deep in thought. "So . . Natsu and Happy?"

"Went with her." Mirajane's tone seemed a little flat.

"Oh" was all Lucy could muster. Lucy started to feel her blood boil._After all of that bickering and they ended up going on missions with someone else. Hmpft! Hypocrites!_

Gray spotted Lucy at the bar and made his way over. "Hey Lucy! 'Bout time you came back!"

Lucy turned and smiled warmly to Gray. "Hey, Gray. What have you been up to lately?"

Gray laughed a little. "Nothing, just a bit bored. Thinking about going on a mission later, but didn't want to go alone." He took a seat next to her. "Did you want to go with me?"

Lucy looked at Gray surprised. "Me? Why me?"

Gray looked down at the bar. "Well, I use to go on requests with Loke all of the time, but I can't really do that anymore unless I work with you." He paused slightly and smiled back to her. "Plus I'm used to working with you now and I know what you're capable of. Teams work better when they know and trust in each other's abilities. Not to mention you're super smart and always do an awesome job."

Lucy sat back and thought about this. Even though Natsu and Happy went on a mission with Lisanna after they through a big fit, she still felt bad about working with Shadow Gear. "Gray . . No. Thank you though." She looked at her hands. "If I take another job, it'll probably be solo jobs until Natsu is back. He was a little upset when I left with Shadow Gear."

Gray frowned. "Lucy, you know that he went on a few jobs with Lisanna right?"

"Yea. I heard." She replied flatly.

Gray turned to look across the guild hall. "Lucy, we are on the same team even without Erza, Natsu and Happy." He turned back catching her brown eyes. He gave his normal confident smile. She felt her heart beat slightly faster.

Levy bounced back over and climbed up onto the stool next to Lucy. "Lucy I wish we could have you for more requests. You were awesome and I was just talking with Jet and Droy, they totally agree and said that you are always welcome to join us again."

Lucy smiled thankfully at her blue haired friend. "Levy, C'mon! I wasn't that much help."

Levy held up her finger playfully. "Lu! Don't start that again! You are strong and hard working. You are always improving as well."

Lucy frowned down at the table. "I'm not strong, my spirits do all of the work."

"That's not true!" Lucy looked to Gray. His eyes serious. "Lucy, you are strong and try hard to improve. Yes, your spirits may be the main focus of your abilities, but be proud of them. You can bring out two really strong allies at once which has helped us out in a lot of blinds. Not to mention you use your whip. And I've seen your kick which can knock out people with one go."

Lucy's face was turning red. She never sees herself that strong since her teammates were some of the strongest in the guild. But maybe Gray has a point. Mira chimed in. "Lucy, Gray's right! You've come a long way since you first joined. We are all impressed."

Levy grabbed Lucy's arm. "And you are super smart! Plus I remember Loke telling me one time that celestial spirits are only as strong as their wizard."

"Thanks everyone." Lucy finished off her tea, and smiled around.

Gray got up." Well I'm going to go on a mission, let me know if you change your mind."

Levy looked curiously at Lucy and Mirajane just giggled.

Lucy walked into her apartment and looked around. She always loved coming back home after a long mission. She washed up in the restroom, taking a nice long bath and relaxing. She came out and put some comfy pajamas on and went to her desk. She was surprised to see her manuscript on the desk. "Didn't I put you in the drawer?" She clipped the pages together and placed them back in their drawer and looked over to her bed. _Hmm . . Why are the sheets crumpled? _She cautiously climbed up and checked the window. Unlocked. Ugh! Natsu and Happy have been here!

She laid down exasperated with them, even when she hadn't seen them in a week. She took a deep breath in and relaxed. A very calm and peaceful smell flittered around her. She rolled over onto her stomach and smelled the comforter. It smells like Natsu. She couldn't help but smile as she nestled into a small hug with the pillow. _It HAS been a week._ She tried to get mad or frustrated at their obvious invasion of her home, but couldn't. It's only been a week and she missed them so much. She fell asleep thinking about past missions, a peaceful smile on her face.

Lucy woke up and stretched. That was the best sleep she's had in a while. She looked out the window and saw that it was already late in the morning. She looked down and saw Gray walking towards her apartment. She got up and brushed her teeth and hair. As she finished she heard a knock at the door and answered it.

"Hey, Gray, what's up?"

"Mira asked me to give this to you." He answered holding out an envelope.

She opened it and looked over the two sheets of paper. They were two requests in a city about a 2 hour train ride to the west from here. One of the jobs specifically requested a celestial mage whereas the other was a simple capture a few bandits. She looked up at Gray thankfully. His hands were shoved in his jacket pockets and he was looking away.

"Come on in Gray." She said suddenly remembering her manners. She looked more at the requests. "Thanks for bringing this to me." He followed her in and lounged in one of her chairs. Lucy went to her kitchen. "You hungry?" she asked as she started to prepare herself some breakfast.

"Nah I'm fine." Gray was looking around, wondering if Lucy has figured out Natsu broke into her place while she was gone. He decided against bringing it up. They may fight regularly, but he won't tear him down if that flame brain isn't there to defend himself. He would have loved to see Lucy yell at him though, maybe give Natsu one of her 'Lucy Kicks'. Gray chuckled to himself.

"So Gray what are you doing today, anything fun?" Lucy asked as she walked back into the room.

"Actually I accepted a request today. Most of the good solo ones have been snagged up by Cana apparently so it was one of the only ones left. It's a little ways west of here. I'm leaving at 1." Lucy looked back at the sheets.

"Well if I accept these, we will be heading in the same direction." Lucy said, looking back at the pages.

Gray got up and grabbed one of the sheets, suddenly interested. "No joke?!" He looked back up at Lucy. "Hey, since we will be going in the same direction, wanna just ride the train together?"

The blonde looked up at her friend, catching his eye. "Sure! I'll meet you at the train at 12:45pm. Kay?"

Gray nodded in agreement and gave Lucy one of his daring smiles. "I'll let Mirajane know."

Lucy paused for a second. "Why is Cana taking an interest in a lot of requests all of the sudden?"

Gray shrugged and muttered something about it probably being her tab and then sauntered out of the door with his hands in his pant pockets. After she closed the door she turned and saw Gray's jacket on the floor. She furrowed her eyebrows. _He was here for not even 10 minutes and his clothes were already coming off. _She laughed. _At least it was only his jacket._


	5. Chapter 5

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 5**

That evening, Lisanna bounds through the guild's front doors. "Hey everyone, we are back!"

Natsu and Happy stroll in behind her. As they get to the bar, Mira looks at them. "You just missed Lucy! She came back yesterday."

"Lucy's back?" Happy shot up in the air excited.

Natsu grinned. "That was faster than expected. We will head over and say hi."

"Natsu . . ." He stops and turns back to Mira. Her expression is reserved. "I . . I sent Lucy on a quest. She left today around 1pm."

Happy's face dropped. "She left on another mission? Did she go alone this time?"

Before Mira could say anything else, Juvia jumped over proclaiming, "OH! Love Rival has taken my sweet and beloved Gray with her!"

Happy looked at Natsu's shocked face.

"Actually," Mira put her index finger up to enforce her point, "they went on separate jobs but it was in the same direction so they decided to travel together." Juvia grumbled to herself, cursing "Love Rival" and her schemes.

Natsu looked at Happy, undecided about what to do next. Lisanna spoke up, leaning against the bar. "Mira, when do you think they will be back?"

Juvia wailed, "Much too long for Juiva's taste!"

Mira thought about it. "Tomorrow at the earliest."

Lisanna looked to Natsu. "Want to go on one more job in the morning? We can just do a small one."

Natsu looked at her hopeful expression and sighed. It was the least he could do. She told him all about how Mira doesn't like her going out on her own and he knew they trusted Natsu to watch over her. He put on his sprightly grin. "Sure, Lisanna! One more request."

Lisanna gleefully skipped over to the request board. Mira looked over to Natsu. "Thanks for going with her Natsu. We appreciate it. It helps knowing that she is going out and getting experience with other strong members." He laughed as he put his arm up, his hand scratching the back of his neck.

Natsu and Happy decided to check out Lucy's house on their way home since a certain ice mage wouldn't be there to snoop. As Natsu came in he smiled. He washed his face and hands in the restroom, knowing Lucy hated when they dirtied up the place. Once he was cleaned up, he laid back on her bed and took a deep breath. He felt like he was swimming in Lucy's comforting scent.

When he took a second breath, he caught a whiff of something. He sprang out of the bed and sniffed the air. Happy looked over at him curiously from the bed. Natsu spotted something dark laying on the floor. As he picked it up, he recognized it as Gray's jacket.

Happy flew next to Natsu. "Isn't that Gray's jacket? What is it doing on Lucy's floor?"

"Don't know." He mumbled. Natsu lit his hand on fire, instantly catching the black jacket in a red and orange flame. He threw it in the fireplace and glanced around. "Let's go Happy."

Happy looked at the fireplace with a frown. "Aye sir."

As Natsu arrived at the train station 11:30am like Lisanna asked, he caught scent of someone familiar. He looked around for the blonde celestial mage but the scent disappeared as quickly as it came. He turned around to see Lisanna. "Ready to go Natsu, Happy?" Excitement shone in her large blue eyes.

"Yea, Lisanna, as ready as I can be for a 2 hour train ride." He smiled remorsefully; his complexion was already turning green.

Lisanna giggled, as she pulled him on. He sat next to the window, placing his head on the glass with his eyes closed. She peered lovingly at him through her half closed eyes. As the train lurched forward, Natsu let out a low, painful groan, clutching his stomach. Lisanna has learned this past week to just let him be when he's like that. She has already been thrown up on twice and didn't want him to feel bad about it again. She looked past him out the window, treasuring every second of their adventure. Not only was she getting experience, she was spending some much desired time with one of her favorite people. Plus to top it off, she was proving to her sister and brother that she can handle going out without them.

She has really enjoyed going out with Natsu and Happy. They haven't changed much in all this time, although they seemed to have matured a little. They tell her all of these stories of things that they have done and all of the adventures. They all included Lucy. All of the funny, sad, terrifying, difficult, easy, weird; all of them included her.

Lisanna sadly looked down at her folded hands. When she arrived to Edolas, that Natsu wasn't interested in being close with her, even before Edolas Lucy joined. Edolas Lucy and Natsu became inseparable instantly. Lisanna should have taken that sign. She looked over at Natsu longingly. She knew that no matter how hard she wished, they would never be as close as they were. She shouldn't be jealous; she should just enjoy the time that they have. Smiling to herself, she gazed at Natsu.

Happy's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "Lisanna, why do you have that weird look on your face?"

Lisanna laughed and looked back to the blue cat. "I'm just thinking." She replied cheerfully.

The two hours seemed to take forever for Natsu. Once they arrived, it took him at least ten minutes before he was recovered enough to start their journey. They went to the edge of town and spoke with the client. Mr. Rigney informed them that a precious family heirloom has been taken from a group of bandits that live nearby. Natsu enthusiastically assured the man that they would retrieve it and ran out into the forest. Lisanna laughed and had Happy fly her so she could keep up with Natsu. He seemed like he really wanted to get to work on the job. It didn't take long for Natsu to find the group of thieves. Only ten people total, 4 of which were mages (very weak and easy to defeat mages at that). After about 10 minutes of fighting and 2 minutes of interrogating, Natsu found a large number of items the group had stolen. He scooped it all up and stashed it in his bag.

As they made their way back towards the town, Lisanna sighed. She was hoping the trip would take longer so she could enjoy it more. She looked over to Natsu. "Natsu, do you want to camp out tonight and return the heirloom tomorrow morning?"

Natsu looked into her blue eyes. "Nah, we can make it tonight." He smiled back at her, oblivious of her hopes. He looked back down the path. He knew he smelled Lucy at the train station before they left and wanted to get home to talk. They still haven't worked out that argument and he was eager to apologize. Now he missed her like crazy. This is the longest they have been separated since she joined the guild and it just feels weird.

A weird smell rips him from his thoughts. Natsu freezes in the path and smells the air. His eyes snap open and he knows that they are surrounded. Lisanna and Happy look at Natsu curiously. "Natsu . . What's wrong?" Her voice was filled with worry.

Natsu's olive green eyes scanned the forest around them; he wondered where they were going to make their first move. A bright flash of light temporarily blinds him as a loud *BOOM* thunders around them. Natsu, still blinded, whips his head in Lisanna's direction as he hears her deafening scream.

**Sorry this chapter is so short. I plan on updating again this Friday and possibly Sunday evening if I get the chance. Give a review and let me know how you like the story so far. I know it's a little slow, but all of the action and events are coming up in the next few chapters. **


	6. Chapter 6

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 6**

Lucy and Gray return to the guild hall. As she made her way over to Mirajane, she saw the white haired beauty chuckle. "Oh, you and Natsu are too funny. You just missed them again. They will be back later tomorrow sometime."

Lucy looked a bit disappointed while Gray asked, "They went on another job?"

Mira smiled. "Yeah, just a small bandit job to retrieve some stolen items. I don't think there is too much to destroy on this one, but it was a long train ride. 2 hours to the east I believe."

Gray chuckled as he looked at Lucy. "One thing for certain, it was much better traveling without that puke machine on a mission for a change."

She giggled. "It was a bit more convenient."

Juvia seemed to appear out of nowhere, muttering loudly. "I see that Love Rival has enjoyed herself with . . ." She let out a love induced sigh, "my beloved . ."

Erza must have spotted them near the bar and strolled over. "Lucy, it is good to see you." She smiled warmly, "It has felt like such a long time since we have all went out on a mission together. Where's Natsu and Happy? We can go get a request and depart immediately."

Gray looked over at Lucy before informing Erza, "Actually, Natsu went out on a few jobs with Lisanna, they should be back tomorrow by the latest."

Erza looked shocked. "Really? That isn't like Natsu." Erza put her hand under her chin thoughtfully.

Lucy couldn't help smirking at Erza. "It's a long story."

Erza sat down as Lucy recounted their argument and her trip with Shadow Gear and her solo missions that she went on that ended up not being that solo with Gray there. Erza listened intently, her eyes huge. Lucy wondered what was going through her crazy imagination.

Erza stood up and looked at Lucy, earnestly stating, "Lucy, one thing has come to my attention." Mira, Gray, and Lucy leaned in curiously to hear what she was going to say. "Lucy, we need to go on a mission with just the 2 of us!" Gray about fell out of his stool and Lucy looked stunned.

Mira curiously asked the red headed mage, "Why is that Erza?"

"Well it appears that I am the only one from our team who hasn't been on a job alone with Lucy." She pulled Lucy's head into the chest plate of her armor with a loud and painful *THUD*. "This will be such a nice bonding experience between friends."

Everyone smiled warily. Seeing the gleam shining in her eyes, they knew there would be no talking her out of this. Lucy laughed, "Well, let me do a few small jobs with Natsu when he gets back and I promise, Erza, I'll go on one soon. Just the two of us." Erza beamed, clearly satisfied with this plan. She walked away saying something about strawberry cake. Lucy stretched. "Well, I'm exhausted. I'm going to head back home and unpack my supplies. See ya later Mira! Bye Gray! Thanks for the company on my jobs." She smiled gratefully before sliding out of her chair, giving a small wave. "See ya tomorrow, Kay!?"

She brought out Plue for company for her walk home; once home, Lucy went to her fridge. Looks like she was out of fish, she will need to go to the store tomorrow morning. She poked around a little more and made a mental list. As she walked past the fireplace, she saw something amiss, she pulled out what looked like Gray's severely burned jacket. She laughed to herself and replaced it. "Gray won't be happy if he finds out about that. Hmmm I guess they stopped by again." She went to the window and again, saw that it was unlocked. She flipped the lock and summoned Capricorn.

The goat-man appeared and bowed gracefully. "Hello Miss Lucy. Are you prepared for your training? It has been several weeks since we practiced."

Lucy smiled. "Yep! I'm ready! I've been out on several jobs, saving up a few months' worth of rent."

Capricorn smiled, Lucy was responsible as always and enthusiastic to continue her training. He has been coaching her since before the Grand Magical Games, focusing on her inner magic and finding how to best control it and even practice bringing it out in a physical caster form instead of only summoning her spirits. She tried to keep this private and wanted to master it before trying it out in a real battle. Capricorn felt a great deal of respect for his celestial wizard, not because she was Layla's daughter, but because of her determination and inner strengths, even when she herself didn't see them.

After training for several hours, Lucy took a nice long bath and sprawled out on her bed. Plue climbed on her bed and laid down next to her. She watched him with a caring smile. As she stretched out, she was excited for her surprise she was planning for Natsu and Happy. She stared out her window at the evening sky, wondering how they were doing.

* * *

The next day Lucy rushed through her errands and raced to the guild. It was barely lunch time when she arrived. She looked casually around the somewhat quiet guild hall. A disappointed expression etched it's way to her pretty face. Wendy called her over to their table and she took the distraction.

She lingered around the guild hall for the rest of the day. No one wanted to go swimming since the sky was so cloudy, the threat of rain loomed in the air. She sat and spoke with Reedus about his paintings, listened to Mira's usual gossip, and even talked with Cana about some weird card reading she had for Lucy. She really enjoyed her hour long conversation with Levy about a new book series she picked up a few months ago. The guild hall slowly filled up, and she still didn't spot the pink hair or blue cat that she was hoping to. Hearing the rain fall against the guild hall, she decided to linger for another hour or so.

Lucy watched peacefully as Mira served the customers around the hall dinner. The rain didn't seem to be letting up, instead it was getting worse. As she slid out of one of the benches in the guild to get an umbrella and just head home, the guild doors opened. Lucy heard a loud clatter. She snapped her head towards the noise to see Mirajane with a horrified expression. Lucy's eyes trailed to the door. A young white haired woman drenched to the bone and pretty beat up stumbled in and collapsed.

Lucy couldn't hear anything around her; instead, a loud buzzing noise rang out in her head. She watched in slow motion as Mira ran to her sister's body joined with Wendy and Elfman. Someone must have yelled for the master because he soon appeared. Elfman was blocking most of Lucy's view at this point, but she was frozen in place.

Gray shook Lucy, snapping her out of her state. She looked at his worried face. "Lucy, did Natsu and Happy come in at all?" The heavy amount of worry in his voice and on his face escalated her own; panic was starting to set in. She managed to shake her head. She looked down, covering her mouth as tears began to gather in her eyes, blurring her eyesight. _This can't be happening. It's Natsu. NATSU! He has to be okay . . I . . Natsu, what happened to you?_

**Sorry For the Short chapter. I will update again Sunday evening. I hope you all have a great weekend! **


	7. Chapter 7

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 7**

Lucy watched as they rushed Lisanna to the infirmary. She followed and slipped into the room quietly. The master was staring into Lisanna's half-awake eyes. "My dear girl, what happened?"

"Th. . th . . they c came out of n . . nowhere." She started to sob, looking around the room at everyone. "We were. . . were in the f . . forest a little east of th . . the town yester . ." Her eyes met Lucy's and new tears welled up. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes trying to regain composure. The tears still spilled from her clenched eyes. She frantically looked to the master. "Please send someone! They called themselves the D. . D. . Dragon Demolishers." She was shaking so hard at this point, tears running down her face like rivers.

Lucy slipped out of the infirmary and quickly walked out the front doors, disregarding the much needed umbrella; once outside, she started sprinting home, trying not to slip from the slick wet cobblestone streets.

Halfway there she felt someone pull on her arm, stopping her. She whipped around to see Gray. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Lucy, what happened?" She just stared at him. "Where's Natsu and Happy?" She bit her lip and looked down shaking her head.

Gray could tell that Lucy was upset, and knew exactly what she was planning. Natsu's rash actions and impulsive influence was always contagious. "Lucy! I know what you're planning on doing. I . . I can't let you go." Lucy looked at Gray ferociously, her brown eyes matching his dark blue yes defiantly. Before she could start arguing, he continued. "I can't let you go after Natsu. . . Alone. . I'm coming with you."

Lucy bit her bottom lip and half tackled Gray into a deep hug. With a strained voice filled with emotion, she said, "Thanks Gray." She stepped away from him meeting his eyes again. "We have to save Natsu and Happy."

Lucy and Gray rushed into her apartment and frantically packed a few essential things into her small backpack. As they opened Lucy's front door, there loomed Erza Scarlet; her expression was domineering and perceptive. "The master has requested everyone at the guild hall immediately." Gray and Lucy exchanged baffled looks.

Lucy looked back in Erza's direction, avoiding eye contact. "Well . . You See . . ."

Erza squared her shoulders. "Are you planning on defying the master's orders?" Her toned was threatening.

Gray looked at her challengingly. "Erza, Lucy and I are going after Natsu. Mira told us the city and basic information about the job yesterday."

Lucy chimed in, "Yeah! We are going to speak with the client and see what information was given before looking for him."

Erza's expression was dangerous. Gray and Lucy knew that they were wasting precious time. Lucy but her lower lip nervously. She couldn't help but recall the time her and Natsu went on the S Class mission without permission. "Erza . . . Come with us!" Gray stared at Lucy, mouth agape. He remembered Erza's fury from that S class mission as well and couldn't believe Lucy was inviting Erza along. She was always so dutiful to the master and took his word as ultimate law. Lucy continued to plead, her eyes filled with heart wrenching emotion. "We will need your help to rescue them."

Erza stood still, eyes shut. Lucy and Gray couldn't tell if she was battling inner demons about going or if she was building up rage to unleash on them. After a minute, she opened her eyes. "We must leave immediately, there isn't any time for packing extra supplies." She looked at Lucy. "Whatever you have packed will have to be sufficient." All Lucy and saw was a whirl of red hair as Erza turned around and departed. They rushed after her, and all headed towards the train station.

* * *

The train ride was unbearable for the trio; no one spoke the entire ride. The sun had already started to set and it was getting darker by the minute. The only positive thing that they could all see was that the rain was starting to let up. Once they arrived, they rushed to the client's home.

When Mr. Rigney opened the door, he was surprised to see 3 soaking wet Fairy Tail wizards. Erza just simply made it sound like they were just in the area and wanted to see if their comrades wanted help or company on their job. He was happy to oblige and repeated the information. The client offered the small team hospitality for the night, but they declined.

As they rushed out into the dark, they team stayed alert and open for clues. Lucy summoned Pixus and asked her duck/compass spirit.

"Pixus, can you show us in which direction Natsu and Happy are?" Pixus closed his eyes and focused at Lucy's request. When he opened them, he looked confused. He threw his wing in the air, pointing one feather up. Lucy looked perplexed. "Up?" Pixus shook his head. The team thought about it.

Erza knelt down next to the spirit. "One?" Pixus nodded excitedly. The team looked at each other before looking back to him. "Please lead us to whoever you can Pixus." She pleaded hoarsely.

Pixus pointed to the East, just south of the town. Lucy looked to Pixus, "Can you come with us until we find them?" Pixus looked uncertain but agreed with a big nod.

They followed Pixus for fifteen minutes, until the spirit poofed back to the spirit world. Lucy looked sadly at her key. "Sorry, he isn't use to staying in our world for longer than a few minutes at a time."

"Lucy, we couldn't have made it this far without him, we will just have to keep a better eye out for Natsu or Happy now." They kept a fast walking pace spreading out a little so they could cover more ground.

After another 5 minutes, Lucy spots a small, furry, blue object roughly 15 feet in front of her. She runs over to find Happy unconscious looking tattered. "GRAY! ERZA!" Lucy screams as she falls to her knees next to the blue exceed. Gray and Erza appear next to her. Lucy carefully picks up Happy, turning his body so he was facing her.

Happy opened his eyes slowly. "L . . . Lu . . . Lushy?" His voice sounded weak.

Lucy felt tears rushing down her cheeks as she rubbed them on Happy's furry forehead. "I'm here Happy. It's okay. I'm here."

Happy lifted his little paw and touched her cheek, and she lifted her head and looked into his eyes. "Lu . . . Lushy . . . Please s . . save N . . . ." His voice cracked and his body shuddered in pain. "Save Natsu."

Lucy bit her lip, trying to hold back the endless amount of water flowing from her eyes. "Where is he Happy?"

Happy looked towards the East and pointed his paw. Lucy looked in that direction and Erza bent down. Lucy looked to Erza who was also crying. "Happy, we need more information than that. How far? How were you separated? Time is of the essence."

Happy's expression troubled, looking between the friends. "It. . . it's about 2 miles East. . . Nat . . . Natsu threw me."

Lucy looked between Gray and Erza, perplexed. "Threw you?"

Happy smiled grimly. "Aye." With that, he lost consciousness. Lucy hugged him carefully as she stood up. She looked to Erza and Gray. "We need to find Natsu."

Gray scratched his head. "Why would Natsu throw him?"

Erza, clearly deep in thought, replied seriously, "Perhaps he threw Happy out of danger." She looked at Gray and Lucy. "There is only one way to discover the truth, let's go find Natsu."

They hastily made their way east, while staying alert and cautious for others. It was another hour before they were completely absorbed into the forest until they heard voices. The trio crouched down behind some bushes, and scanned the area. Soon 3 men walked into their view, complaining loudly. "Ugh why do we have to look for that blue cat and the girl? She isn't even as described in the original explanation."

One of the men smacked the complainer on the arm. "Shut it Marcus! It's your fault the white haired girl escaped."

The man who's name must be Marcus replied. "But that pink haired freak threw a fire spin my way. I had to dodge it; by the time I turned away, she was a bird flying away! It's Frankie's fault for letting the cat get away!" He threw a small stick at the third man who was looking up a tree.

The man who they called Frankie was the largest of the three and turned around with a roar. "ARE YOU BLAMING ME?!" His snarling face was covered his deep scars and his orange eyes gleamed dangerously.

Marcus replied, "I don't think we have another Frankie on our team, dimwit!"

Even in the dark, the trio could see Frankie's face turn red with anger. He up rooted the tree he was just looking up and threw it at his two comrades. They luckily dodged and glared at him. The third man who's name still unknown at this point cleared his throat. "I will take the blame for the cat. Master requested Frankie's assistance with the dragon slayer and handed me the mongrel. I wasn't expecting the Dragon slayer to slip past Frankie and give my face a flaming elbow, and then throw his friend. Who knows how far away that little beast is? We can look all night, but I don't think it will do any good." He shrugged indifferently. "I think we should regroup and look in the morning."

Marcus huffed. "I don't see the point of finding neither the cat nor the girl, Lenny."

The supposed, Lenny, wacked Marcus on the arm. "IDIOT! How stupid are you? They could go back to the guild for reinforcements. Plus you know for our plan to work we need at least one hostage." He sighed. "It's better if it's someone close to the dragon slayer. It would have been better to have them both so no one could inform their comrades and we could keep the blue exceed." His expressions turned to a sickening dark expression. "I hear exceeds sell for a high price. Some are desired as pets. . Others have peculiar and rare dining preferences." He laughed coldly. Lucy held Happy a little tighter, starting to feel sick to her stomach listening to what they were planning to do to the Exceed.

Frankie was standing awkwardly off to the side to sniffing the air. Lenny watched Frankie with interest while Marcus let out a sigh and plopped on the ground. "So are we done for the night or not?"

Frankie let out a sickening chuckle. "Oh no! We are just getting started." He grinned menacingly. He plodded over to the bush that the Fairy Tail trio was eavesdropping. Lucy looked to Erza and Gray, worried.

Erza sprang from her hiding place changing her outfit into the Heaven's Wheel Armor and charged at Frankie. Gray glanced at Lucy. "Stay here!" He leapt out and went for the remaining two enemies.

_STAY HERE? HOW DARE GRAY ASSUME I'M OKAY WITH THAT!_ Lucy was furious, she stood up cradling Happy with her left arm, she grabbed her keys. "Open, gate of the lion. LEO!" Loke appeared and adjusted the sleeve to his suit. "Loke, I need you to help them attack our enemies." Loke glanced over his shoulder reassuringly, but stopped as he spied Happy in Lucy's arms. His expression turned cold with rage as he turned towards the enemies.

Lucy, knowing she couldn't fight hand to hand while protecting Happy, took a step back behind a tree. She watched in turmoil as her team mates struggled against their opponents. Erza was having difficulty moving around in such a small space, and it didn't help that her opponent was swinging a tree at her. Gray was fighting Marcus, who was throwing pins that looked like they were dipped in poison. Loke was ensnared in tree roots as the man name Lenny used the nature around him to do his bidding. He started to attack Erza and Gray as well until he noticed Lucy peering from behind a tree.

Lenny couldn't believe his eyes. It was the girl they were originally looking for! The white haired one was going to have to do, but now they can have their trump card. He smirked.

Lucy felt something touch her leg. She glanced down to see a tree root wrapping itself around her ankle. The next thing she knew she was being yanked in the air above the battle. Her scream was short as the vine covered her mouth and cocooned itself around her.

"LUCY!" Loke, Erza, and Gray all yelled together. Lucy struggled against the vines; she started to get sleepy. Trying to force her eyes opened she scanned the ground for Happy. She must have dropped him when the vines snatched her. She noticed she didn't see Loke anymore and wondered if he was forced back into the celestial world. Her eyelids felt like they weighed a hundred pounds as she tried to remain conscious. Finally, the blackness overcame her senses.


	8. Chapter 8

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 8**

Natsu struggled against his restraints to no avail. He heard voices but couldn't make out what anyone was saying_. Damn! My normal amazing senses have been dulled down. I can't hear or see as good as I usually can._ The man with the charcoal grey hooded cloak stepped out of the shadows. Natsu could barely make out a gleam of a wicked smile. He pulled ferociously against the restraints again. "YOU BASTARD! Let me out of here!" He tried to focus on his left arm. "COWARDS!"

The man chuckled under his hood. "I told you, there will be no escape for you. . Unless you're referring to your life escaping you limp, lifeless body." He laughed menacingly.

Natsu grit his teeth. "That's not going to happen."

The hooded man smirked. "Give it up dragon slayer. Give in to us."

Natsu laughed boldly. "Why the hell would I do that?"

The hooded man's ominous laughter filled the room. "You'll see, dragon slayer. You'll see." The man retreated into the shadows, almost seemed to melt into them.

Natsu ground his teeth. _What the hell was that supposed to mean?! Lisanna got away; she was way out of their reach when Natsu told her to go home for help. Could they have gotten Happy? Damn! DAMN!_ He pulled harder against his restraints. Nothing was budging.

He relaxed his body and tried to focus on his sight, looking around the spacious room. Even without his dragon nose, he could smell that they were underground. The lighting was poor but he could make out a good portion of the machine he was hooked up to. There were 3 doors ahead of him in the distance. One of the rooms had a window. He saw the light on earlier, but currently it was off. He looked to the right of the doorways. There was a large opening of a tunnel that most people could walk in without crouching. It had twists and turns in it and was lit every ten feet with another fire on the wall. He woke up what felt like ages ago as they wheeled him down the tunnel before they hooked him to this machine. He looked back at the intimidating machine; it was in the shape of a large dragon. The tubes that were connected to him wrapped around and formed a shape that reminded him of fire as it connected and went into the Dragon's mouth. The rest of the machine seemed to be made of silver except for the little bit of the belly that could be seen under the body. That was glass and just seemed empty. His arms were above him with a tube hooked to each palm and wrapped around his arm down to his elbows. The tubes for his legs connected on his feet, above the knees and wrapped wildly about. He had a red tube above where his heart is and a large diamond shaped one above his stomach. The tubing itself Natsu couldn't figure it out. It was as if it was spun with glass, silver, and something that resembled dragon scales.

He looked around wildly and started struggling again. After what felt like hours, he looked over his shoulder again at the dragon machine. They told him that he needed to give up his magic, life, and any form of essence that is him to the machine of his free will. He was relieved that Lisanna made it away, and still feared for Happy. He knew that Happy was strong, but he was wounded and unable to use his aero magic when Natsu threw him. _That tree bastard's thorns has some kind of magic inability reaction. _He looked up at the ceiling in confidence. _Happy would be alright._ Natsu believed in him. He would much rather have Happy be out free in the world where he could be rescued rather than tortured until someone he loved sacrificed themselves for him. Then they would probably kill him off anyways.

He saw shadows coming down the open tunnel ahead. He strained his eyes to see who it was._Frankie, that big oaf, he seemed to be dragging something behind him._ Natsu's eyes shot open. It was a body. _No. No. No. No! NO! NOO! _He strained his body to try and see who was.

Frankie gave Natsu a sickening grin. "Lookie what we brought down to play with." Frankie lifted up the woman by her light hair. Natsu instantly recognized her. He swung her back and then tossed her across the room towards the dragon slayer. She tumbled with a loud painful sound. "LUCY!" Natsu pulled against the restraints harder than he thought he could. Still nothing. "LUCY!" He shouted out painfully. _How could they have gotten her?_

Frankie chuckled. "So you like the little toy we brought to play with?" Natsu felt an angry growl escape his lips. Frankie's menacing sneer deepened dangerously.

The man of the shadows appeared to Natsu's left. "So, dragon slayer, what do you think? We captured the blonde celestial wizard that is rumored to travel with the great and mighty SALAMANDER!" He grasped Lucy by the neck and held her up to Natsu face to face.

"Luce. . ." He croakily whispered.

Her brown eyes sluggishly sputtered open. "N . . . Natsu? . ."

He felt tears sting his eyes. "I'm here Luce"

She let a small frail smile grace her roughed up face. As she opened her mouth to speak, the man clenched his fist tighter around her throat. "STOP IT YOU BASTARD! LET HER GO! LET ME GO YOU COWARDS! FIGHT ME! ME! LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!"

Frankie came up and punched Natsu in the gut, narrowly missing the tubing, knocking all of the wind out of him. He coughed and sputtered out blood. His body collapsed against his restraints. He managed to open one eye to see them toss Lucy several yards behind them. Natsu looked at the caped figure, seeing two amused, golden eyes staring back. Natsu let out another menacing growl, as he stood up and pull forward, trying with his might to break out.

"Dragon Slayer of Fire. We have told you what we want. If you agree to let it all go, her death will be painless and quick. However, the longer you fight us, the longer her suffering will be." His eyes faded back into the shadows so all Natsu could make out was his sneering smile.

Natsu looked to Lucy. There has to be a way for us both to get out of here alive. Or at least her getting out of here _. I . . I don't know if I can stomach her getting tortured, especially with me being the cause._ He looked down.

"Oh? Not going to comply?" He asked eerily. "FRANKIE! Do with her as you please."

Natsu's eyes shot to the large man. His grin turned sadistic. He picked up Lucy by the hair, her body limply hanging below looking bruised and tattered already. He took his giant hand out as if to swat Lucy across the room. Natsu couldn't take it. "NOOOOO! If you let her go, alive, I'll do anything!"

The hooded man put his hand up, stopping the clearly displeased Frankie. "Hmmm. We can't let her go alive out into the world."

"Why?! What all has she seen? She's been unconscious for most of it! Please!" Natsu closed his eyes and sagged against his confinements. "I'll do anything." He felt new tears escape his closed eyes.

The man smiled. "Frankie!" Natsu listened with all hope. "Have fun with your blonde toy."

"NOOOOOOOO!" Natsu roared out. He pulled like an animal against the restraints. "LUCY!"

**Sorry, I know this chapter is SUPER short. I plan on updating Friday evening and hopefully Sunday afternoon. I hope you all enjoy! Please leave a review and let me know what you think so far. I know it started off a bit slow, but I have a lot of interesting plot twists planned upcoming and I have several chapters already written in advance so I can update regularly. I am a busy college student and am in the process of writing another story that will be premiering hopefully within the next week. Thank you for all of the fans that have reviewed and that are following this story. Honestly, you all motivate me to make this the best story and I really try and edit each chapter several times to make it the best. Love you all and I look forward to putting out more chapters and stories for you all!**


	9. Chapter 9

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 9**

Frankie lifted the blonde above his head and Natsu watched in horror as he started to bring her to the ground with an insane amount of force. Lucy suddenly disappeared with a poof and her twin spirits Gemini where left floating there. "Piri Piri!" they chanted.

Frankie's face was a mix between bewilderment and outrage. "WHERE IS THE BLONDE?!" He bellowed looking around wildly. As he turned away from Natsu, everyone heard a loud, high pitched voice. "LUCY KICK!"

The large man fell and there victoriously standing above him was Lucy. Her smile was smugly pasted across her confident face. Lucy took out her whip and stretched it out across the room, missing the cloaked figure. The hooded man snarled at her and shakily pointed his finger in her direction. "HOW DID YOU GET YOUR KEYS?"

Loke jumped out with a punch, barely missing the hooded man. "I can enter and leave when I want!" His smile was arrogant and cocky. The hooded man leapt back toward Natsu, protecting his prize.

Loke glanced back at Lucy as Gemini returned with another poof. Lucy pulled out her keys and summoned Virgo.

Natsu watched the scene in awe. He knew he could believe in Lucy but was still not expecting this.

Lucy looked at Virgo. "Virgo!?"

"Is it time for punishment Princess?"

Lucy glared at her. "Virgo!" she glanced quickly at Natsu. "Do you know what to do?"

"Yes, Princess!" Virgo disappeared in the ground. As Loke jumped and swung at the hooded figure. He melted into a nearby shadow with a low, nasty snarl.

Lucy ran forward and put her hands on Natsu's cheeks. He saw tears streaming down her face. "Natsu . . . I was so worried . ." She hugged him letting out a soft sob. He leaned his head against hers. She stepped back and stared at the machine with wonder. Her eyes mechanically traveled the tubing back to his strung up body. She frowned thoughtfully, "I think I know how to unhook this from you." She smiled, confidence radiating her beautiful features.

Natsu wore one of his traditional smirks that only he could pull off. She still amazed him all the time. He quickly glanced over her shoulder and saw Loke not too far away, eyes scanning the shadows looking for the enemy before returning his gaze to Lucy. Natsu watched her step forward and placed her hand on his heart tubing. He felt the tubing suction tighter to his skin. Her brown eyes flashed at him seriously. "This might hurt a little."

A low sinister laughter filled the cavern. "You took the words out of my mouth you little bitch!"

A shadow streaked across the room and wrapped around her. She stepped back with a painful expression before falling to her knees. The man grew out of the shadow. Natsu met his cruel, golden gaze.

He grabbed Lucy by the back of the neck and lifted her off of the ground. Natsu could see Loke racing towards Lucy; the celestial lion was almost upon the cloaked man when Lucy let out a terrifying scream and her spirit flickered away. The man's sadistic smirk reappeared. Natsu struggled against his restraints. "LET HER GO YOU BASTARD!"

She opened one eye and looked at Natsu under her heavy lidded eyes. She smiled despairingly at him, almost breaking his heart. The hooded man's vicious smile grew wilder with sick amusement twisting at his lips.

She closed her eyes and kicked wildly as she screamed out in pain again. "STOP!" Natsu leaned down trying to bite at the tubing but it is just out of reach. He looks around desperately before returning his gaze to that monster.

"Do you remember my magic?" The words slickly rolled off of his tongue, lathered in crazy. "My magic affects the mind, making you feel like every nerve in your body is on fire and being torn apart at the same time." He clenches his fist tighter around her neck. Lucy started coughing, gasping at the air. "Give in and like I promised, she won't suffer any more . . in this life."

Natsu looked away as she screamed out in pain again, not being able to bear the guilt. With defeat stuck on his face, Natsu glanced back. "What do you plan on doing with my dragon essence?"

The man sneered. "That is none of your damn business." He held Lucy out in front of him, a few feet away from Natsu. She looked almost asleep. The man shook her around a little and he still didn't get a reaction out of her. Her lifeless body just dangled in front of them. He pulled her body back next to his own stared at her angrily yelling. "WHAT?!" He shook her wildly, only getting a small whimper and a pained groan out of the blonde celestial wizard.

Natsu pulled harder, he felt like his skin was going to rip where the tubes were attached, but he didn't care. He couldn't tell if her lack of reaction was a good thing or life threatening. "LUCY! Please, hang in there! LUCY!"

Lucy's body suddenly came to life, lifting her leg so her foot could gracefully meet that bastard's face. He stepped back, dropping her. She stood up shakily in front of Natsu, her gaze unwavering from the cloaked monster. Natsu looks to the jerk and sees that his hood is down. His skin is deeply tanned with medium length purple hair pointedly poking out in all directions. He smiled wickedly, with bright fangs showing. His golden eyes watched her before he melted down and the shadowy form escaped into the abyss. Lucy picked up her keys and summoned Scorpio at her side. "Scorpio . . ." She sounded so weak. "Please watch over us for a few minutes." Scorpio seemed to be watching something in the shadows carefully as he agreed. Before Natsu could try to scan the area as well, Lucy turned and practically collapsed against him. Her hands wrapped around the tube above his heart. Her soft brown eyes met his worried olive green.

"Luce . . . I . ."

"Shhhhh . . . This . . . is going to hurt a little. . I'm sorry." She gave Natsu a sad, weak smile and pulled. He screamed out in pain and all he could see was a bright flash of light. When he opened his eyes, she was holding the tubing in her hands and Scorpio was looking at her with worry. Her eyes met Natsu's and she smiled with a little more confidence. She placed her hands around the tubing attached to his stomach. He kept his eyes closed, each one hurting less and less until he finally fell to the ground. She collapsed next to him. He looked up to meet her gaze. Her brown eyes filled with tears of relief before closing and she crumbled to the ground next to him.

Scorpio swore softly before disappearing with a poof. Natsu slowly pick up Lucy in his arms, regaining his normal strength and senses with every passing second of being disconnected from that monstrous machine.

Natsu ran down the softly lite tunnel, eating a few of the flames that they passed. Once he ran for what he felt like forever, he could finally smell fresh air. As they reached the large opening of a cavern, he looked around. The sky was just setting it's sun. Natsu smirked. He would have the advantage in the dark, even over that shadow jumping freak.

He spied his pack and Lucy's backpack nearby. He set her down next to them and sniffed. They smell untampered with. He quickly opened her bag and found a few of her power bars she always packed; he wolfed them down to regain some of his depleted energy. He shoved her bag into his and slipped it on his back. He heard voices coming from the tunnel they just came out of. Picking up his blonde friend carefully in his arms, Natsu sprinted towards the exit. A low menacing growl escaped the cave as he sprinted into the forest. The trees started to move and block his path. He leapt and burned his way through them for some time. He finally came to a clearing and the plant attacks ceased. Natsu didn't dare to look back until he was across the valley.

He turned and saw with his keen eyes 5 shadowy shapes at the other end of the clearing. Natsu smirked; he put about a mile distance between them. If he kept it up, he would lose them for sure.

He ran west until his feet couldn't carry him anymore and he collapsed from exhaustion. He looked up to the saw that the moon was directly over them. _Must be close to midnight._ He sat down and sniffed the air; he smelled water. Pleading with his exhausted body, he forced himself up and carried Lucy over to a nearby stream. He took his cup from his pack and drank from it generously, before taking the cup over to Lucy.

Lifting up her head he spoke to her softly trying to wake her up. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him, drained. He put the cup to her mouth and she took a long drink. She choked and turned to her side, coughing up the water. Natsu rubbed her pack supportively. "It's okay Luce. . It's okay." He helped her sit up more and take another sip. This time the water seemed to go down smoother. She sank back against him with a soft sigh. She looked up at his face holding her shaky arm out so her hand can press against his warm cheek; her brown eyes full of relief and happiness. He smiled down at her.

"Natsu." Her voice was a soft whisper but he could hear it perfectly. "I . . I want you to know . . . Happy is okay." Emotion hit him in waves. "Erza, Gray and I found him a few miles west of where you were. Gray and Erza should have him now." Natsu frowned.

"Where are Gray and Erza?"

"When I summoned Virgo, I sent her to inform them that I had you and we would meet back at the guild."

Natsu stared down at her with astonishment. "Wow Lucy." His smile was mesmerizing. Her eyes flickered shut wearily, hand dropping to the ground.

**I hope you all are enjoying this! Leave me a review about the action in this chapter. I need some suggestions and ideas for future chapters and some input on what you all would prefer. Should I go into more detail in the fights or should I focus more on the plot/relationships like I have been?**

**You are all amazing! Thank you for reading my story. **


	10. Chapter 10

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 10**

Natsu woke up with the rays of the sun peeking through his ruffled salmon colored hair. He let out a low groan as he began to stretch his wary muscles, but then he stopped abruptly. He felt something on his right arm and shoulder. Peering over, he almost jumped. Lucy was snuggling against his shoulder and his arm; before he started stretching it, his arm must have been wrapped around her. He looked around, bewildered. They were in the forest next to a large stream. Their supplies lay on the other side of Natsu.

He heard a branch snap several hundred yards ahead. While slipping his arm out from under Lucy, Natsu looks up to see Gray and Erza walk into the small clearing. Natsu saw Happy's little form in Erza's hands. Natsu sat all the way up with his arms stretched out as Happy leaped from Erza's arms into his own.

"Hey little buddy." He smiled down at Happy. Happy looked up at Natsu, eyes full of tears. "Hey, it's all okay now." He hugged him tenderly, still smelling Happy's blood from under the bandages. "I'm sorry I had to throw you. I knew you could handle it.

Happy let out a small, "Aye . . S . . Sir."

Natsu looked up to Erza and Gray's blank expressions. He stared back confused. Gray put his hand over his face, looking exasperated and looked away. Erza's face started to get as red as her hair and her eyes seemed to be bugging out. Her gaze went back between Lucy and him. He glanced over at Lucy and finally saw how it looked. They both looked disheveled and exhausted and were practically snuggling under one blanket.

Natsu leapt up, away from Lucy, and put his hand behind his head. A small blush appeared on his cheeks. Happy, unaware of the present confusing situation, limped over to Lucy and nudged her with his small blue paw.

"N . . NATSU! WHAT WERE YOU D . . DOING WITH L . . LUCY?!" Erza stammered out, almost yelling.

"NOTHING!"

Gray stepped closer. "It didn't look like nothing!"

Natsu eyed him warily. He recounted the details in his head that had happened the night before.

"Lucy went unconscious and when I tried to wake her, I realized she was freezing. I pulled out the blanket, but that didn't seem to help. I couldn't build a fire in case it would attract the enemies' attention, so I pulled her in closer to me because of my higher body heat. Within minutes her shivering stopped." He didn't want to include that he was lulled to sleep by the sound of her soft breathing and intoxicating scent.

Gray looked unconvinced and Erza seemed to accept the story. Happy was still trying to wake Lucy. "Guys . ." Their attention turned back to the blue cat. "She's not waking and she seems to be getting cold."

Natsu rusheed to her side and puts the back of his hand over her cheek. She felt cold. Erza crouched on the other side and felt her forehead before looking seriously to Natsu. "We must return to the guild immediately." Erza grabbed Natsu's supply pack and stalked off westbound with Gray hesitantly following.

Natsu scoops up Lucy carefully and follows. Happy carefully flew and almost collapsed on Natsu's shoulder. Natsu looked over to him with concern. Happy sadly informed Natsu, "I think I sprained my wing when I landed."

Natsu leaned his head caringly against Happy's. "I'm sorry Happy." Happy tried to tell him it wasn't his fault but is lulled to sleep by the walking motion.

After walking a long distance, Erza stops before a clearing and set down Natsu's pack. She abruptly turned and faced Natsu. In a sweet and utterly unnaturally caring voice, she gently spoke to Natsu. "Natsu, you look exhausted, let's have you regain your strength. I'll carry Lucy and Gray can carry your pack."

Before Gray can utter a protest, Erza steps forward and carefully takes Lucy out of his arms. She then proceeds to turn towards Gray. "Gray, can you hold Lucy for just a minute?"

Natsu, confused, is about to ask what is going on until Erza steps away and he sees that directly behind her is a carriage. He feels his stomach churn and his face start to turn green. As he turns, preparing to protest against the transportation, everything goes black.

"ERZA!" Gray yells. "Why'd you knock him out?"

She swiftly turns around and plucked Lucy out of Gray's hands. "This will be easier to deal with on the way home." She hastily walked to the carriage and stretches Lucy out on one of the seats. Gray picks up the pack and drags Natsu behind him by the vest color with Happy slowly following. Gray propped Natsu on the seat adjacent to Lucy and sits down next to him. Happy climbs up on top of Lucy and lays next to her face.

The car lurches forward as Erza forces her magic into the machine to make it drive top speed. Gray struggles for the next 3 hours trying to keep everyone in the back in their own spots. Natsu ended up falling out of the seat so much, Gray laid him down and sat on the floor in between his two unconscious comrades. He had to repeatedly tell Erza to slow down or else she was going to run out of magic, he even offered to drive but she insisted on doing it herself. He put his back on Natsu's pack and let out a relieved sigh when Erza finally announced that they were in Magnolia.

Soon, they came to an abrupt halt in front of the Fairy Tail guild hall. Gray bounced out of the back and went to give Erza a piece of his mind about her driving until he saw her. Her whole body was slumped forward with her eyes closed and she was breathing hard. "Erza . . ." She warily looked over at Gray, giving him a weak smile. "You pushed yourself too hard. I told you I could have taken over for a while."

She lightly chuckled before slowly replying. "Oh, but that would have taken away precious time. Lucy needs to have medical attention."

"Gray! Erza!" They turned and saw Mira walking towards them from the guild with a slow trail of the members following. "Did you find Natsu and Happy?" She paused for a second before asking, "That is where you went right?"

"Yea. We found them." Gray replied shortly, looking back to the door that sat slightly ajar.

Mira looked around slowly. "Did . . Did Lucy go with you?"

Gray clenched his fists and looked down. Erza glanced around at the guild members starting to mill around the vehicle. "She's in the back. Can someone please send for the master and we need Wendy as well." Her gaze stopped as she saw Lisanna standing in the guild's doorway with guilt and uncertainty.

Warren used his telepathy to contact the master and Wendy as Mira slowly made her way towards to doors of the vehicle. She gasped. "What happened?!"

Gray walked over to where Mira was gaping. "It's a bit of a long story . ."

Mira looked at Gray. "Is Lucy okay?"

"We . .We don't know. She's been unconscious since we found her and Natsu."

"What about Natsu?"

Erza slowly slid off of the front seat. "I knocked him out to help with his motion sickness."

Mira's worry seemed to lighten by then. Gray stepped in and carefully carried Lucy out while Elfman scooped up Natsu. Happy jumped into Erza's arms and they walked into the guild. Erza watched Lisanna's horrified face as she saw everyone being carried in and soon disappeared. She felt bad for the young girl, knowing that she clearly must be blaming herself for this.

**I hope you all liked this chapter, I really don't want Lisanna to be made out as a bad character. She is just a young mage who not only wanted to spend some time with a childhood friend, but to earn some independence from her overbearing and overprotective siblings. I will try to add more about that in a future chapter. **


	11. Chapter 11

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 11**

Master arrived to the infirmary with Wendy. Wendy looked around. "Who's in the worst condition?"

Gray walked over to Lucy. "She's been unconscious since we found them this morning. We haven't had a chance to ask Natsu what exactly happened because we were in a bit of a rush. She's been losing body temperature as well."

Master asked everyone to leave so only Mira, Erza, Gray, Wendy, Carla, Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and himself were in the room.

Wendy walked over to Lucy and slowly put her hands above the celestial mage. She immediately furrowed her eyebrows. Her healing light changed colors several times and she finally stopped after 5 minutes. She looked around apologetically. "I'm sorry, I don't think I can heal her. I've tried everything. I might have helped a little, but she's not physically hurt. . ." She looked back bewildered at Lucy. "It's her magic . .It's like her body is just pushing it out of her. I tried to stop it, but it barely made a difference. I think Porlyusica will be able to help more."

She made a few steps towards Natsu and it took her a few simple minutes to heal him and he woke up immediately. He stretched and looked around, eyes falling on Lucy. "Why did I get healed first? Lucy is the one who really needs it."

Erza stood up and walked over to the bed placing Happy in front of Wendy and looking to Natsu. As Wendy started to heal the little blue cat Erza informed him, "Wendy has already tried that. Porlyusica is on her way to see what she can do. Natsu . . I think you should tell us what happened."

Natsu felt his jaw clench as he looked around the room. The master pulled his chair close and watched him attentively. "Well . . After Happy, Lisanna and I fought those bandits we were walking back to town . . A group of people surrounded us in the woods. I told Lisanna to escape and get help and she did and then Happy was caught. I heard one of them say something they wanted to do to him. ."Erza and Gray looked away, remembering what they overheard themselves. "I was able to get a hold of Happy and I threw him out of danger." He looked down at Happy remorsefully.

"One of their mages has some plant ability, it's like it drains your power and you can't do anything. Well. I must have blacked out for some time. I woke up tied to some wagon by those plant vines and was being carted deep down through some cave underground. That's where they hooked me up to this giant dragon shaped . .machine." Natsu looked back at the master. "They said that they wanted my dragon magic, my essence of life, and that the only way they could get it was if I gave it freely."

Everyone in the room exchanged solemn looks before staring back at Natsu intently, waiting for him to continue.

"I obviously refused. I don't know how long I was down there, but the machine, while I was hooked up to it. I . . I couldn't use my fire, nor any of my dragon abilities. I couldn't see as clearly nor could I smell things very well. The man that was demanding me to release it was wearing a cloak the whole time. I only got one good look at him."

He gave a soft, concerned glance at Lucy before closing his eyes and rubbing his head. "They called themselves the Dragon Demolishers. From what I gathered, I think they are going to target the other dragon slayers." He looked back at the master's face with urgency.

Makarov was in deep thought. "How did they plan on forcing you to relinquish your power?"

Natsu returned his gaze to the blonde laying on the cot next to his. "They . . brought her in."

Mira, Wendy, Carla and Happy all gasped while everyone else just wore a disturbed expression on their face. Makarov clenched his fists.

Natsu continued the story. "They told me that she was going to die either way, but I would get to choose how." Natsu put his elbows on his thighs and sank his head deep into his hands, staring at the floor. "They said if I just gave them my power, her death would be fast and painless. If I didn't . ."

Erza stepped forward. "What happened, Natsu?"

He looked back at Lucy. "I'm not entirely sure. Suddenly she became Gemini and took out one of the bad guys. Loke said he got her keys or something. She said that she sent Virgo to Gray and Erza . .?

"Yea." Gray filled in what happened on their end. "We were searching for Lucy when Virgo appeared and told us that Lucy had found Natsu and were planning an escape. She told us that they would be heading West and to meet at the Guild. But Virgo was suddenly alert and said something was wrong and then poofed."

"Erza closed her eyes, leaning against the wall. "That's when we commandeered the vehicle."

"WHAT?!" Master almost fell out of his chair in shock as Mira just chuckled.

Natsu looked over to Erza and Gray, before watching Lucy. He stood up and walked to her cot. His head whipped around to the group. "She's freezing!"

Mira frowned. "We gave her 10 blankets, I was hoping that would be enough."

"Natsu, what happened next?" Natsu regarded Erza seriously. "Why did Virgo suddenly disappear?"

"The cloaked man grabbed her and did something. I don't quite understand his magic; something about the mind or the nerves. He used it on me a few times. All I can say is that it hurts." He looked back at Lucy. "A lot. . . .When he used it, Loke vanished as well. Lucy managed to surprise him with a kick and escaped and summoned that scorpion spirit or whatever. Then she pulled the tubes from the machine off. When she was done, she blacked out and I carried her out."

Everyone stared at him dumbfounded. "What?"

"Fire breath, that is a very brief description. She just collapsed?" Gray gave Natsu an incredulous look.

Natsu felt himself get a bit angry. "YEA. JUST COLLAPSED."

Erza started to rub her temples with her right hand, clearly frustrated where the environment in the room was headed. Before she could yell at them, Porlyusica stepped in the room.

She immediately stepped over to Lucy and picked up her hand. Wendy briefly whispered to her what she thought it was and what she tried to do. Porlyusica quickly started mixing herbs together and finally stopped and looked around at the silent room filled with mages. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL STILL DOING HERE?! GET OUT NOW!"

Natsu went to stand up. "Not you. Sit next to her. She's freezing and you radiate enough heat to warm a house." He sat back down slowly, while everyone else left besides Happy. "Sit her up." She finished mixing ingredients and held a liquid up to the celestial wizard's mouth, having her slowly swallow the brew.

She looked at Natsu. "I overheard part of the story from the door being cracked. There were a few people snooping outside. When she removed that tubing, what did you see?"

"Bright flashes of light. Kinda goldish."

"Just as I suspected." She laid Lucy back so she was laying down once again. Her red eyes bore into him. "She used an extensive amount of magic to remove those from you." Natsu looked shocked. "That is difficult for a celestial mage to exert magic like that when they typically only put it into a small object. She probably lost consciousness before she was able to seal her magic and stop the flow."

Natsu stared at the lady confused. Happy announced. "I don't get it."

"WELL I'M NOT GOING TO RE-EXPLAIN IT! I'M NOT YOUR TEACHER!"

She started packing her things. "Keep her warm, she should recover within the next few days."

Happy and Porlyusica then started to get into a conversation about his wing maybe being sprained and she had him use his aero magic so she could examine it. She patched it up and said that Wendy clearly did a good job on all of his other injuries so she was heading home. She stalked out of the room. The master entered the room after briefly talking with Porlyusica outside.

The master sighed, "Well, I'm happy that you will all be all right, but we clearly must do something about this band of enemies. The Dragon Demolishers . . I shall have to warn our dragon slayers and inform Sabertooth as well. I'll send the others back in here." Makarov left the room in a hurry, urging the others to follow.

A large poof appeared next to the bed, and there stood Loke. He stared down at Lucy, clearly upset about something, before he turned to Natsu. "I'm sorry." He looked down at the floor.

"For what? You really helped us back there."

"I . . I didn't see him. I spoke with Scorpio, he said he could see him in the shadows the entire time, all the way until the man left, but I couldn't. We had Crux look into it." He closed his eyes, clenching his fists. "Because of the years of exile I spent in the human world, apparently my perception isn't only celestial spirit. The influence of the human world let that man's magic mess with my head. ANY of the other spirits could have seen him, but not me. ." He sat down putt his head in his hands. "I . . feel so weak."

Natsu stared at him. "What do you mean?"

Loke looked at him through heavy eyes. "Lucy figured it out, didn't you?"

Natsu gave him a surprised look before looking at the girl next to him. "She did?"

"How do you think she escaped his influence on her?" Loke stared meaningfully at Natsu.

Natsu shook his head. There was a knock on the door and soon the room started to fill again with the people that Porlyusica kicked out, along with a few tagalongs (Levy, Cana, and Reedus). Loke stood up. "I'll let you ask her, she needs to regain her magic, so I'll be heading back now." With a poof, he was gone once again.

**Thank you everyone for the continued support. I might be dropping from 3 updates a week to twice a week with finals for school looming and I have recently started another story that I'm updating once a week. Next update will be Friday. I hope you all enjoy the story. Let me know what you think. =) **


	12. Chapter 12

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 12**

Lucy felt completely drained to the core. She could tell even with her eyelids closed that it was bright wherever she was. She felt sore and exhausted but was at least warm. She tried to think what last happened. Several small fast memories flooded her but she was having trouble making sense of them except that she was cold and being jostled around. She finally remembered the cave and removing the tubes from Natsu.

Lucy slowly opened her eyes, squinting against the harsh, bright light that illuminated the room. She was in the infirmary at the guild hall. _How did I end up here?_ She tried to focus her thoughts. _Cave. Forest to drink water. Carriage? Was Gray there? I think I remember Happy. Infirmary. Porlyusica making me drink something. _

She tried to shift her body in the cot a pressure, weighing her side down. She glanced over to see Natsu asleep. Her whole body stiffened as she realized that his hand was draped across her stomach and his warm breath fanning across her face even down to her neck. She squealed, pushing him out of the bed and sitting up all in one motion.

He jolted into an alert standing position anxiously glancing around the room. Seeing her awake, he relaxed. "You're awake." His smile was so happy and filled with relief.

Lucy scowled at him. "You were in my bed."

Natsu scratched the back of his neck, maintaining his happy smile. "Porlyusica said that I needed to stay close, you were freezing and couldn't warm up. I guess I must have fallen asleep."

She blushed, turning away from him. "What happened?"

He dropped his hand back to his side and stared down at bed. "You saved me Luce. You released me from that . . that thing."

She glanced over him with remembrance. She sat up on her knees in front of him, still on the cot. Lucy put one of her hands on his chest and used the other to touch gently where a faint line was still where she pulled that tube off his stomach. "Did it hurt?"

"Only for a minute." He watched her large brown eyes traced the line before her gaze went to the one on his chest. She delicately traced it with her fingers, before meeting his eyes. He was blushing and looked away before she suddenly realized how intimate her touch might appear. Embarrassed, she quickly sat back, almost falling off the cot. His hand caught hers and he helped her lay back down. She was feeling exhausted again.

"Lucy . ." She looked at Natsu from under her sleepy eyelids. "How . .how did you escape that cloaked man? How were you able to . . .?" He looked away. "Loke said that you figured it out. He apologized that he wasn't able to see the man when Scorpio was able to because something about the human world's influence . . . ?"

Lucy smiled lightly. "When he mentioned that he goes into the mind to make your nerves feel like they are hurting, I realized that he actually had no power over them. I told myself that it wasn't real and that he wasn't hurting me until the pain stopped."

Natsu stared back at her in astonishment. "Did it work?"

She smiled sheepishly. "A little, the pain became manageable."

Natsu sat on the bed next to her and pulled her in for a big hug. "I'm sorry Luce." He closed his eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"Everything." He pulled back meeting her eyes. "I'm sorry for you being captured and being used like that. I'm sorry being getting mad about going on those missions. I'm sorry for. ."

"Natsu. ." She smiled warmly at him, grabbing his hands and holding them firmly in her own. "It's okay."

He smiled back. _Does this mean that everything is going to go back to normal? _

Lucy yawned and slowly drifted back to sleep.

That evening after ensuring she ate a decent meal and finished drinking the tonic Porlyusica mixed, Mira and the master let Lucy go home to her apartment. Natsu walked with Lucy and held his arm out so she could use it as support. She appreciated the help, especially walking up her stairs.

When Lucy opened the door to her apartment, she gave a small shriek and her nails dug into Natsu's arm. He was about to jump into the apartment to defend Lucy, when he spotted Gray and Erza lounging in the room. He let out an exasperated huff and followed the frustrated celestial mage into her apartment.

"What are you both doing in here?" Lucy demanded, suddenly showing more energy than she's shown in the past 2 days.

"Lucy, we heard the great news that you were feeling better and wanted to be here to welcome you home to your apartment." Erza beamed as she sauntered over to Lucy, pulling her into what Erza considered a tender and heartfelt hug which resulted in Lucy's head banging into her armor. Gray and Natsu winced at the loud *Clank* that filled the room. With Lucy's head now really spinning, once Erza let her go she tumbled back and almost crashed into Natsu. "Oh dear!" Erza caught Lucy's hand and steadied her. "My most humble apologies. Please, I implore you to hit me as retribution for my careless actions." She bowed down to emphasis her sincerity.

"He. . That's okay." Lucy replied, looking around in hopes she could sit down somewhere nearby.

"Guys, Lucy is pretty exhausted right now. She's still recovering from the other day." Natsu said, looking worriedly over to her.

She made a disgruntled face and a small snort as she plopped down on her bed. She didn't like that it was taking her this long to recover. _It was just my magic that I overused, why is the rest of my body doing this to me? _

Erza and Gray said something about possibly coming by later tonight and Lucy nodded lightly. Once they left, she just stared out the window, sorrow etching her beautiful face. Natsu was sitting in her chair near her desk silently watching her, before putting his head down. Happy was off in the kitchen raiding Lucy's fridge.

A loud clatter from the kitchen made Natsu and Lucy jump. Lucy looked over and saw Natsu and realized that she almost forgot that he and Happy were still there.

Natsu got up and walked to the big mess in the kitchen. He could see Happy's little tail sticking out from under a decent size pile of fish. After he picked up a few he could finally start to see more of his blue little friend. "Sorry, Natsu, I was trying to get just one but didn't realize that she would have so many in her fridge."

Natsu whipped around at Lucy's giggle. She was standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe. "I picked them up 'cause I know they are your favorite, and I knew that you'd be back soon." She smiled merrily.

Happy frowned. "How'd you know that we would be here so soon?"

Lucy chuckled lightly again and looked knowingly at them. "Did you ever stop coming over?" She slowly walked in and began to help pick up the fish and place them back on the plate. Once everything was in order, and hands washed, Lucy walked back and laid down across her bed.

Natsu over and stood next to her, confused. "How did you know that we still came by?"

She smiled at him, laughing at how easy it was to get him to admit it. She gives him a teasing smile and points to the fireplace. "You left behind evidence."

He looked over and laughed. "What was his jacket doing here anyways?"

"He came over to give me some requests that Mira asked me to go on and we were talking. I didn't even realize he took off the jacket until he left."

Natsu grumble about 'that icey stripping pervert' and Lucy and Happy just smiled, listening to his rant. _Things are starting to feel like normal again._

**I hope you all are enjoying this story. Later tonight I will be posting the second chapter to my other story as well since I won't be posting on Sunday. I have a busy weekend so I hope I can keep up with these stories between school, work and home life. I want to thank everyone for their continued support. **


	13. Chapter 13

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 13**

That night, Erza, Gray, Levy, Wendy and Carla all came over to check in on Lucy. Everyone started finding seats to get comfortable while Natsu lounged on the bed

"Wow Lu, you're looking so much better!" Levy sat down at the desk and put her hands in her lap. Lucy could see the anticipation written on her face.

"Bottom drawer on the left." Lucy laughed. Levy looked surprised at first before blushing and smiling guiltily. "If you wait another couple of weeks, I will probably be done with the story by then." Levy laughed and she got back up and pulled the chair closer to everyone sitting near the kitchen table.

Erza brought Lucy over to the table and excitedly presented a Strawberry cake. "I hope this makes you feel better Lucy, I know this always works for me." Before anyone could even say thanks, Erza was already cutting and serving the cake out to everyone. Lucy looked around the room with warmth in her heart. Her friends really were the best family she could ever have hoped for. She laughed lightly to herself.

They spent the rest of the evening telling fun stories about different adventures when Gray made the comment. "Geez Lucy, you sure do get targeted a lot." Lucy shot him an unamused look. "What?"

Levy giggled, "Well at least she can take care of herself. You guys should have seen her when she came with us a few weeks ago! Lucy was amazing!" Lucy flushed at the compliment as Erza, Gray and Wendy leaned in to listen more. Natsu didn't seem to be listening, looking at the ceiling without interest in the conversation. "Our first job we had to capture some bandits that were holding some people ransom. Turns out it was a small dark guild!" Wendy let out a small gasp. "Lucy totally kicked their butts. She brought out Cancer, but he distracted them more than actually hurt them. Then she brought out Virgo and she dug holes right underneath a bunch of them, knocking them out of the fight! While we were fighting the other guys, Lucy captured the boss and knocked him out with a kick!"

Erza nodded impressed and Gray smirked over to Lucy, giving her a light fake punch in the arm. "Way to go Lucy!"

Levy continued enthusiastically, "We had to decipher some ancient texts, and this weird gorilla monster thing came out and grabbed Jet, and cornered me. Droy was trying to stop it with his plants but it's teeth were sharp and just chomped through them. Lucy sent out Taurus and while he was attacking it, she had Virgo get Droy and me out of there. Then they managed to get Jet loose and knock out that monkey!"

Lucy sighed, "You should thank my spirits Levy, they did most of the work!"

Levy gave Lucy an unconvinced look. "Lu! I saw you use your whip! And without your help deciphering those words, we would have been there at least for another day. Who knows how many other monsters could have attacked!"

Lucy playfully rolled her eyes and saw that Erza and Wendy were listening with excitement. Gray was still taking note with interest and Lucy couldn't help but smile at Happy's wide eyes. She avoided looking towards Natsu, she didn't want to see his expression after they were finally on good terms again.

Levy laughed and bumped Lucy with her should lightheartedly. "The other 2 jobs were fun, it was nice to have another girl there for a change. We apprehended this small group of guys at a nearby bathhouse resort; the owner was so thankful, he let us stay there for free and said he won't charge us next time we go there again."

Erza's eyes shone with exhilaration. "Lucy . . ." She turned to the blonde. "We should go to a bathhouse for our job!"

Lucy giggled, "We will see."

Wendy looked at Levy. "What about the other job?" Everyone looked curiously at Wendy, before she shyly squeaked, "Well you went on 4 jobs right?"

Lucy smiled. "Oh yeah! The last one was the best." She looked at Levy with an amused face before they both burst out with laughter; Levy laughed so hard she fell on the floor.

Erza raised her eyebrow questioningly. "What happened?"

Between giggles Lucy slowly managed to answer. "There . .was this guy . . and lady . .they . .asked us to . . .asked . . us . ." Lucy at this point was laughing so hard she couldn't manage to say more.

Levy slowly got up, wiping tears from her eyes, she looked at Lucy. "They asked us to act out the magic games."

The rest of the group stared at them with perplexed looks, even Natsu at this point. Seeing their reaction only made the two laugh harder.

Gray frowned. "What's so funny about that? It was pretty serious there and we had a lot of trouble. You for example got seriously injured."

Lucy couldn't pull the smile off her face from all the laughing, even knowing the conversation was turning serious. "Well, to be honest, if there was anything to get me over it, acting it out sure as heck did."

Erza sat forward curiously, "Please, tell us a little bit about how you acted it out."

Lucy and Levy shared amused looks and went into a light brief detail about their 'performance'.

_*It started when they arrived to the town of Kunugi, they met a rich eccentric man and his wife who requested them to act out some of the fights of the Grand Magical Games. He wanted everyone to try to make it as real as possible as if they were sitting front row (which they apparently did for the actual games). They wanted to 'relive' the experience. Levy chimed in that it was good luck Lucy came since she was actually apart of Team A from Fairy Tail. _

_The man gave her a look and said, "Yeah, we will have to figure something out for that." The group looked at each other confused, but shrugged it off._

"What did he mean 'we will have to figure something out for that'?" Gray asked hesitantly.

Levy giggled while Lucy's face flushed with the memory. Everyone was bubbling with anticipation.

"He . . he didn't want me to act out as . . . myself." Lucy said carefully. The room stared back at her with a blank stare. "He wanted us all to be different characters, different roles." Her face was as red as Erza's hair at this point.

Levy continued to tell the story.

_They skipped the preliminary events and went straight into the hidden game. Lucy summoned 2 of her spirits so they could have more characters even though it wasn't enough. Lucy was Rufus, Levy was Gray, Droy was Eve, Jet was Nullpudding, Aries was Juvia, and Virgo was Leon. The other 2 characters were nonetheless forgotten for the sake of the show. _

_Then for the battles the man decided who was who. He decided that Jet would play Lucy and Droy would be Flare (more real touch since Droy can control plants and he used vines in place of Flare's hair). Loke acted as Ren and Levy was Arena for the next battle. The man chose Jet to be War Cry and Lucy summoned Taurus as Ogra. Then Lucy was chosen to be Mystogun (aka Jellal) and Virgo was picked to be Jura._

Natsu was leaning forward with interest to the conversation. "C'mon, tell me who acted as me?!"

Levy started laughing hard again putting her head on the table and holding her sides. Then she pointed at Lucy who was giggling with embarrassment while sinking low in her chair.

Erza raised her eyebrow and Gray and Happy chuckled. Natsu frowned, "Why is that funny?"

Levy wiped the tears from her eyes before looking up at Natsu, shaking her head. "She really tried to get into the roll and watching her try to run around throwing 'fireballs' . . ." Levy's giggles were threathening to come up so she put her hand over her mouth to help contain them.

Natsu smiled and glanced over to Lucy's red face while she smiled down at her folded hands. Levy finally was able to continue, "She was crawling on the ground shouting about how she was going to give it her all no matter what."

Lucy gave Levy a playful stare, "Oh, like you weren't crawling either?! You were the one being Gajeel after all." It was Levy's turn to blush.

Natsu couldn't help but belt out a good laugh at what he imagined.

Erza's eyes shined, she practically had stars in her eyes. "I wonder if he will want another performance with more people..?"

Lucy glanced at Levy before looking around the room. "I think we can talk him into another. He really loved the show, and it did pay well."

They spent the next hour going into more details of the performance.

Once it started to get late, Carla stood up and announced that it was getting too late for Wendy and they should get going. Erza offered to escort them home, but Wendy declined, knowing that the red head would rather be here to talk.

Gray decided that it was a great time to talk about his and Lucy's jobs they did 'together'. The first one was one of Lucy's a scientist wanted to ask her celestial spirits questions about their world and some knowledge. He stated that he was writing a book. He paid Lucy heftily since she summoned 6 of her zodiac spirits (not all at the same time). She also summoned Crux and that helped the information process. The scientist was also amazed that Lucy and Gray had both traveled to the celestial world and he asked for a description and how the time works differently.

The next job was Gray's and he had to fight off a local monster that was attacking a nearby town. Lucy originally told him that she was just going to be in town shopping and they were just travel companions and not working together, but the monster got close to the town's edge, so Lucy called out Taurus and he kept it at bay until Gray defeated it.

The last job was Lucy's and she decided to just ask Gray for help. Some lady said that she needed some lost valuables found and it turned out he son was trying to clean out some of the clutter and sold it to an antique shop the next town over. They spent 3 hours in that store looking through everything only to find out it was a different thrift store. They found it all instantly there on the front shelf.

Soon everyone was yawning and starting to say goodbyes. Once Gray and Levy left, Erza gave Natsu a warning glare to not bother Lucy before saying her goodbyes as well.

Now it was just Happy, Natsu and Lucy once again.

**I hope everyone is enjoying this story, I'm having a lot of fun writing it. I plan on updating again this Friday. If for some reason that doesn't happen, I promise there will be one Sunday. **

_**Response to comments:**_

_**I want to thank "crbrgmi" for your continued support and reviews I usually personally message everyone that comments but I want to specifically thank you since you comment frequently, it really motivates me to update the twice a week instead of just once, even if I have a busy schedule. **_

_**For the person who commented as "iii", I'm sorry the characters are too OOC for you, I hope you still enjoy the story. I would have personal messaged you but I was not able to. I promise, there will be more adventures, I have a few things planned for the story first, but I already have 3 major adventures planned, with possible small ones in between, I do plan on making this story long so please have patience. **_

**_For the person who commented as "Guest", I wish I could respond, thank you, I'm happy that you are enjoying this story so far._ **


	14. Chapter 14

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 14**

As Lucy closed the door behind Erza, she let out a soft sigh, not sure of what to say to her two remaining guests and best friends. She felt her inner turmoil bubbling to the surface; he did apologize earlier, but with everything that has happened since their initial argument she still felt uneasy about it. Lucy prayed that it wouldn't ruin anything between them.

She turned around and jumped. Natsu was standing directly in front of her. Before Lucy could say anything, he pulled her into a tight hug. She felt her arms wrap around him as she gave him a good squeeze back. She felt his warm breath fanning against her ear and was mesmerized by his soft voice. "I missed you Lucy."

She tightened her hold and buried her face into his shoulder. "I . . I missed you too." She stepped back and stared into his olive green eyes. "I was so worried about you when Lisanna came back alone." Tears started to well up in her eyes.

He bit the inside of his cheek and looked down. "I'm sorry you had to worry."

Natsu felt a hand on his cheek and looked back into Lucy's chocolate brown eyes. "I'm sorry for going on the jobs without you."

He let a small smirk escape with a light chuckle. "Lucy, it fine. That didn't have anything to do with what happened to me. I was the one. ."

"NO!" Lucy was crying. "If I didn't go on other jobs, maybe this wouldn't have happened." She looked away. "You might not have gone on that job at all. Maybe there could have been something I could have done."

He pulled her into another hug. "Lucy. . . ." Her legs were starting to feel weak and Natsu felt her wobble; he scooped her up and carried her to the bed. Setting her down gently, he carefully sat beside her. He gently held her hand, watching his thumb caress her fingers delicately. "Don't blame yourself; none of what happened was your fault." He looked back to her face; she was biting her bottom lip and staring out the window next to her bed. "Luce, I'm fine."

Lucy turned, her brown eyes meeting his green. "Natsu," her hand squeezed his, "I just know that they will be back for you again."

"Yea, I know. Don't worry though! We have the guild. With them around, nothing can hurt me."

Lucy stared at him clearly unconvinced. "I wonder if you're the only one they are after . . ?" She wondered out loud.

Natsu frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well . ." She put her finger under her chin, deep in thought. "They are called the Dragon Demolishers, correct? If they are after dragon slayers, they might go after the others, not just you."

Natsu stared at her in disbelief. Thinking hard, he didn't recall them saying anything about going after the others, but it is a possibility. "We will talk with Gramps about it tomorrow." He gave Lucy a serious look, "For now though, I think you should rest, you don't look so well."

Happy flew over to the bed. "AYE! You look tired and pale!"

Lucy frowned at them. "Thanks." She stated flatly. Natsu gave her a goofy grin and chuckled lightly. Lucy couldn't help but smile to herself. _It's so nice being with them. I really missed just being around them._

She let out a content sigh and stretched out on her bed before curling up under her blankets. Natsu and Happy made their way to her kitchen to clearly raid her fridge. Lucy never remembered falling asleep.

* * *

_Lucy was running, faster and faster. The sky was blood red, the moon black. She couldn't remember what she was running from, but she knew she didn't want to turn around to look. _

_Her steps faltered as she hit a fork in the road. She heard a thunderous roar behind her and she decided that either path would suffice and chose the left. She heard her feet pound against the dirt path and saw that a forest was ahead. Once in the forest, she started getting cold. She continued running long after she couldn't feel her toes. _

_Soon the trees started to dwindle and she saw that there was snow everywhere. As she was about to slow down, she heard branches snap behind her; it sounded close. She picked up her pace, cursing to herself. She dragged herself to a sudden halt at the edge of a cliff. She looked behind her and didn't see anything. She let out a soft, relieved sigh and curiously made her way closer to the edge. Cautiously looking over, her stomach dropped when she realized that she couldn't see the bottom. She felt herself shiver and could see her own breath. Holding herself in her arms, she failed at trying to stop her teeth from chattering. _

_Hearing a scuffling sound behind her, she turned and terror took over. There stood a huge black and purple wolf with luminous golden eyes. The wolf itself had to be as large as a single train car. It's long white teeth were brighter than the snow on the ground, and they were all at least the length of her entire arm. She eyed the beast warily. It took a step towards her, snarling. Instinctively, Lucy took a step back; her foot never hit anything solid and she suddenly felt herself falling. She let out a scream._

Suddenly, everything was dark and she wasn't falling anymore. Confused and still feeling a little adrenaline pumping she went to move only to realize that she was being held in someone's arms. She tried to focus her eyes. "Natsu?"

"Shhhh . . ." She felt him standing. His warmth was radiating over her, warming her freezing body. She leaned against him, suddenly feeling drained, exhaustion teasing her senses.

"What happened?"

"Sounded like you had a nightmare and you fell out of bed. I caught you just in time." He reached across her bed and gently laid her down so she was away from the edge, before sitting next to her.

"You didn't leave?"

"Nah, I was sleeping on the couch, I woke up because I heard your teeth chattering. While I was trying to grab extra blankets I heard you tossing and turning so I came to check on you. Then I caught you."

She felt her cheeks go warm with a blush. Thank goodness it was too dark to see. He let out a yawn and looked over towards her; she was already starting to shiver again. He stretched out on the bed next to her and pulled her in close. Before she could protest, his body heat started to wash over her, starting to fall weak against the temptations of sleep.

"You okay now?"

Wrapped her feet around his ankle, starting to feel them again and put her arm over his chest, her head on his shoulder. "Yea." She managed to murmur before sinking into sleep.

He smiled and rested his chin on the top of her head, before falling asleep himself.

* * *

The next morning, Natsu woke up and let out a yawn. He could feel Lucy snuggling on him so he decided not to stretch like his muscles were pleading him to. He opened his eyes to see a blue cat hovering over him with a weird grin and an eyebrow raised. "What happened to sleeping on the couch?"

Natsu frowned and looked away. "She was cold." He quickly glanced back to see Happy's unconvinced face.

"You liiiiiiike her!" Natsu raised an eyebrow back, but remained silent. He felt Lucy stir next to him and looked down. His eyes felt like they about bugged out of his head. He didn't realize how much she was actually sprawled across him. He blushed and tried to clear his head. _Was she going to remember last night? Is she going to flip out and kick me?_

He watched as she gave a small stretch and froze. _She must have realized that she is cuddling me. _He held his breath in anticipation to her reaction. She slowly opened her eyes and let out a soft gasp before looking up to his face.

Lucy bit her bottom lip, remembering the night before; her nightmare, being cold, falling out of bed. She felt her cheeks go red. Natsu gave her a lazy smile. "Morning."

She knew she couldn't be mad, so she just sat up and climbed over him to get out of bed, mumbling a soft reply. Once he had the bed to himself, he stretched and rolled over to his stomach.

"I'm going to take a shower and get dressed." Lucy looked over to Natsu before looking over to Happy who was already flying towards the kitchen. "Feel free to get some food."

Once Lucy was in the restroom, Natsu sat up. Happy came back with a large fish in his paws. "Let's go Happy, we should get changed and head to the guild." The cat frowned at him. Natsu knew he couldn't go to the guild like this, Gajeel, Wendy and most likely Laxus (if he was around) would be able to smell Lucy all over him and he hated when they asked him about it. Natsu felt like it put Lucy and him in a weird spot. Happy followed Natsu out the window and back to their cottage.

When Lucy came out of the restroom, she wasn't overly surprised to see that they were gone, it was common that they would leave when she wasn't paying attention or out of the room and just head to the guild.

She went out and got a hot tea on the way to the guild. Even though it was warm outside, Lucy couldn't help but feel cold still. They did warn her that she wasn't retaining her body heat as well as she usually could, but Porlyusica assured her that it would go back to normal soon.

Lucy walked into the guild and smiled at everyone before making her way to the bar and sat on the stool next to Natsu to order some breakfast for herself. Natsu smiled warmly to her as Happy flew over and sat next to her. "Lucy, why are you drinking something hot? It's pretty warm out."

Lucy gave a small undecided pout, "I guess I've been kinda cold still. The hot drinks just help warm me up."

Happy gave an enormous and mischievous grin as he raised an eyebrow. "I know another way that you like to keep warm!"

Mira raised an eyebrow as Lucy blushed and pretty much snarled at the cat "SHUT IT YOU STUPID CAT!"

Natsu and Mira chuckled as Cana walked over. "Oooh, what other ways can Lucy here keep warm?" She gave an amused smile.

"Nothing!" Lucy quickly said and glared at the blue cat. Happy gave a soft pout and huffed away.

Mira excused herself, saying that she had to go finish making breakfast. Cana sat down next to Lucy.

"How are you feeling?" Her violet eyes, filled with concern, scanned over Lucy.

Lucy smiled back. "Better, I think I'll be good by next week."

"Good!" Natsu exclaimed. Lucy and Cana both looked at him. "We can go on more missions." He gave a wolfish grin. "It'll be great."

"No." They all jumped as the heard the voice. They turned to see Makarov sitting on the bar next to Natsu, and wondered when he arrived. "Natsu, you are temporarily banned from going on missions."

"What?! Why?" Natsu's fire was pumping through him, he was ready to go out and use it.

Makarov kept his eyes closed and continued. "After everything that has happened, I am banning all Dragon Slayers from going on missions for the time being.

Natsu jumped out of his chair, hands aflame. "Oh come on Gramps, I can handle it. Now that I know what's going on, I know I can take them!"

Makarov opened his eyes to glare at the pink haired Dragon Slayer. "Do you? Because I can assure you that not even I know entirely." He let out a soft sigh and looked around the guild. "I forbid you from taking missions until we speak to all of the Dragon Slayers together."

Lucy slid out of the chair and put it on Natsu's shoulder reassuringly. "When will you speak to everyone?"

Makarov looked over to Natsu, and cautiously drawled out, "Well, since all of ours are here, whenever Sting and Rouge are able to arrive."

Natsu's face lit up. "Sabertooth's coming?!" He gave a spirited grin.

The master let out a sigh. "Natsu, they are not coming to fight, they will be here to discuss the importance of the situation. They should be arriving later this afternoon. I have already informed all of the other Dragon Slayers to be in my office at 1pm today." He gave Natsu a serious look. "Don't be late!" He glanced over to Lucy, deep in thought, "Lucy you can attend as well, as well as the exceeds. Knowing our Dragon Slayers, they will need someone close who knows what's going on to keep an eye on them." With that, Master Makarov jumped off the counter and made his way through the guild.

**Thank you for reading my story this far, I hope this chapter wasn't too mushy or anything, I have a lot of NALU fluff built up and it spills into my writing, which is why I started my other story so it hopefully won't crash into this story too much, no guarantees =P.**

**I have also found the perfect writing schedule. I'll be rotating my weeks from now on, one week I'll post Sunday and Friday, the next week I'd post Wednesday, then the rotation would start again. It's the only schedule that I can promise to full hearted. Obviously, if I can foresee not being able to post, I would post ahead of that or if I can post earlier, I will. **

**Thank you all for your patience as well. When I write, it feels like the chapters are longer than they really are so I apologize for when they are short. I have really noticed it now that I have been getting into the groove of my other story (those chapters are twice as long so I only post that story once a week if I'm able to).**


	15. Chapter 15

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 15**

Lucy, Natsu, and Happy made their way to the Master's office 10 minutes before 1pm. Erza stood outside of his office in her usual armor with her arms crossed in front of her. "Natsu, I am to escort you and Lucy to the meeting room."

Happy looked over Natsu with curiosity, "We have a meeting room?"

Lucy chuckled lightly as they began to follow Erza. They went down 2 flights of stairs and arrived in a long hallway with 10 doors on each side. Erza walked up and entered the second door on the right. Lucy looked around. "What's in the other rooms?"

Erza simply gave Lucy a look that was implied to not ask further about it. She looked around the hall once more before following everyone into the room. It was a large room with an enormous round table in the center. Wendy and Carla were already in the room sitting in a few of the chairs. Lucy sat on the left side of Wendy, having Natsu take the seat next to her; Happy decided to stay near Carla and talk.

Erza left the room once everyone was situated and soon returned with Laxus and Freed, followed by Gajeel and Pantherlily. Erza took a seat as well. Soon Mira came in and placed glasses of water in front of all of the chairs at the table. She quietly stood next to the largest chair and watched the door.

Exactly at 1:00pm, the Master, followed by Sabertooth's Dragon Slayers, Sting and Rogue, and their Exceeds entered the room and took seats.

"Hey Sting, Rogue!" Natsu beamed across the table.

"Hey Natsu!" Sting gave his normal smug expression while Rogue gave a small polite nod.

Makarov stood on his seat so everyone could see him at the table. "I gathered you all here to discuss a possible threat to all Dragon Slayers." He eyed the people in the room seriously.

Sting spoke up looking between Lucy, Erza, Freed and Mira. "Why are there other people here who are not Dragon Slayers?"

Makarov let out a sigh. "I needed to have Erza and Mira aware because they are the eyes of the guild while I'm not here. Freed is here in support of Laxus, who is the only one that does not have an Exceed. Lucy. . ." Makarov gives her a weird look. "She has to do with what we are discussing."

Sting and Rogue gave her curious looks while everyone from Fairy Tail avoided looking at her. They were aware of what happened for the most part and knew she was still recovering.

Master Makarov looked around the room. "Do you all know how lacrima are made?" Everyone stared at him curiously. "Lacrima is made by compressing magic energy of a specific element into a small crystal."

Lucy's eyes widened with shock as she understood. Erza, Natsu and Mira glanced at her before Sting complained, "What does this have to do with us?"

Makarov scowled lightly. "Let me get to it." He sighed. "Natsu was recently taken by a group of people called the Dragon Demolishers." Sting and Rogue looked at Natsu with interest as Makarov continued. "They hooked him up to a large machine and demanded that he willingly give up his magic and life to them."

Laxus chuckled. "I see he wasn't willing." He smiled, amused at the young Fire Dragon Slayer.

"How were they trying to MAKE him give it up willingly?" Sting probed Makarov, still eyeing Natsu curiously.

Natsu looked away with a huff, and Lucy looked down to her hands. Makarov looked to Lucy sadly before stating, "By threatening someone close."

Sting, surprised, glanced at Makarov, and followed his gaze to Lucy. Realization struck him. Rogue felt the room's mood change and looked sympathetically to Lucy before looking at his little Exceed, Frosch.

Lucy continued to look down, feeling the pitying gazes around her; she detested being the spotlight in this situation. Sting looked between Natsu and Lucy, "What happened?"

Natsu looked to Lucy, debating on what to say. Erza spoke up, pulling the Sabertooth Dragon Slayers attention to her. "They escaped." Erza looked to the master, eyes filled with curiosity. "Master, if I may . . ? What does this have to do . . ?"

Rogue inquired, "How did they escape? I think this information is crucial if any of us get captured."

The room looked to Natsu and Lucy with interest. Lucy bit her lip nervously as Natsu looked around the room. "Lucy . . Lucy saved me." He gave her a quick look before turning back to the room. "The leader has some ability where it affects the mind. Lucy just blocked it out and summoned her spirits. They can see him in the shadows even when he seems hidden."

Sting smirked, "Rogue here doesn't have any problems with shadows, do you Rogue."

"NO!" Everyone looked to Lucy. "He's different. He toys with your mind, making you see what he wants you to see. I have had my spirits try to look into his magic. We still know very little about it. What we do know is that if he captures you, you have to remember his magic is an illusion. You only think your feeling the pain."

Everyone was silent, staring at her ominously. Erza looked around the table and cleared her throat. "I think the master should continue. Master . .what does all of this have to do with lacrima?

Makarov looked between the twin Dragon Slayers from Sabertooth and his own grandson. "Do you know how they make Dragon Slayer lacrima?"

Several people gasped in the room. Carla flew into Wendy's lap and received a tight hug in response. Happy flew over to Natsu and landed on his shoulder protectively. Laxus stared hard at his grandfather. "Are you telling me, they were trying to make a Fire Dragon Slayer lacrima?"

Sting and Rogue stared in shock at the Fairy Tail master. Makarov sighed. "I'm afraid so. My own son, Ivan was a part of this group when he was younger, it was one of the reasons he was banned from our guild." Everyone avoided looking at Laxus, who had put his head in his hands, letting his blonde hair trickle through his fingers. Makarov continued, "I haven't heard much from this group in all of those years, otherwise I would have never let Gajeel go under cover in Raven Tail." He looked sympathetically to Gajeel. " I'm sorry Gajeel." He replied with a simple shrug. Makarov looked around at everyone again, worry etched across his face. I know that I have no say for Sabertooth, but I would like you to keep in mind what we are doing, I am from this point on forbidding all of the Fairy Tail Dragon Slayers from going on missions. The risk is . ."

"WHAT?!" Flame erupted around Natsu and he stood up. Happy flew across the room and scooted her chair away from his wrath. "Why not Gramps?!"

Makarov stood on the table shouting, "There is just too much of a risk! Natsu, you yourself have already had a run in with these people. You should understand more than anyone."

Gajeel chuckled at that comment. Natsu shot him a glare before turning back to the Master. "I can take care of myself. What if we just go in bigger groups?"

"Absolutely not." Erza fiercely stated, facing the fire mage. "The risk is too high, and you are too obvious."

"Too obvious?" Natsu stared at the red headed mage, confused.

Laxus stared pointedly at him. "Your hair is pink, you run around with a flying blue cat and a blonde, and you shoot fire and destroy everything. Not really trying to stay under the radar, are you?" Natsu shot him a dirty look.

"Natsu, Laxus makes a very good point." Erza stated calmly. She looked around the room. "With the exception of Laxus, all of you have Exceed companions." Everyone looked around at the Exceeds. Erza continued. "Really, it's almost safe to say that Exceeds seem to attach themselves to Dragon Slayers and it unfortunately makes it easier to pin point you."

Many of the Exceeds were disappointed by this and looked to their friends for comfort. Happy flew to Lucy, not wanting to risk sitting near the explosive fire mage until this was resolved.

"What if we were able to disguise ourselves, could we go out then?" Wendy asked softly.

Makarov thought about this. "You would have to be unrecognizable, even to our guild." He looked around the table. "I don't think that is very possible for any of you. Your traits and characteristics are too well known and you are all famous from the Grand Magical Games."

Natsu looked at the master with indecision before storming out of the room. Erza looked to Lucy. "Can you make sure he doesn't do anything reckless?"

Lucy nodded and asked Happy to stay for the rest of the meeting before rushing out. Stopping in the doorway she assured the room of mages, "I'll bring him back by tomorrow afternoon, I think he needs some time to cool off."

Lucy finally caught up to Natsu's quick pace out front of the guild. "Where do you think you are going?" Natsu kept walking; Lucy let out a little huff in frustration. "NATSU! Where are you going?"

He shot her a quick look before finally stopping. "I don't know, out of the guild for a bit. I need some fresh air and to think for a bit."

Lucy leaned over cheerfully, "Mind if I join?"

Natsu smirked, he just couldn't say no. "C'mon." They made their way through town at a leisurely pace. "It sucks that we can't go on missions." He looked at her face, meeting her brown eyes.

She smiled. "Well for now, I'll just hang out with you and Happy. Maybe we can get some training done or something." She bit her lower lip. _That would only work to keep his mind off of things for a few days. _

He sighed, "I wish there was a way to change my appearance so we can go out and have some fun."

She hummed a response, thinking of his predicament. "OH!" Natsu jumped at Lucy's sudden outburst. She looked at Natsu, excitement dancing in her eyes. "Let's go to my house!" She took his hand and started to drag him there. He chuckled and followed, curious as to what has his blonde friend so excited.

Once they arrive to her apartment, she started to dig through her drawers. "Here they are!" She turned to Natsu, who was now lounging on her bed. She ran over and placed a bracelet on his wrist, then placed a similar one of her own.

She smiled brightly at him as he returned her gaze with one of question. "You got excited over matching jewelry?" He looked down at the bracelet.

"NO! This isn't just any kind of jewelry, this is . . . well . . . These bracelets change your appearance." She smiled back to Natsu. He gave her an unconvinced look so she took her bracelet and started to play with the small dial on the bracelet. Suddenly her hair changed to a red, almost challenging Erza's hair color. Natsu shot off the bed and grabbed her hair. "OW!"

"Whoa, how'd you do that?" He held the hair close to his face. She turned the dial and it changed back to it's normal, blonde locks. She pulled it out of his hands and gave him a weird look.

"You turn the dial. There is one for hair which is this one . . And there is one for eye color . .Yea."

She looked at Natsu's Olive green eyes, her own brown eyes sparkling with playfully. "I have a great idea!" He gave her a questioning look. "How about you go in there and change your appearance, and then I'll look away when you come out and then I go in there and change mine. You can go to the park or something while I'm changing. We can make a game of it. Whoever recognizes the other first, wins."

His interest was piqued. "What does the winner get?"

She smiled. "The person who loses owes the other dinner!"

**Thank you everyone for your continued support. I will be posting the next chapter on Wednesday. I've already started writing it, and it is a fun chapter to write so far. I'm looking forward to having you all read it. Leave a review with a guess what they will look like. **

**Until next time. 3**


	16. Chapter 16

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 16**

Natsu enthusiastically sprang into the bathroom. He looked into the mirror. He didn't want to change anything about himself, but he knew that it would help his case to go on jobs again. "If this is the only way Gramps would let him go out, then we will try it out." He was also getting pumped for the challenge, his competitive nature setting in. _I'm going to win that meal!_

He looked down at the dial and started to adjust the hair. First he tried black, and couldn't help but chuckled. He looked like he did when they accidentally went back in time. He switched it to red, close to Erza's color; _Not bad for a fire wizard._ He gave himself a devilish grin. He switched it to blue and quickly tried green before settling with blonde. _Hmmmm, I wonder. . . _

He played with the eye color dial, changing it to Brown. _Is this what Lucy would look like as a guy? _He chuckled to himself, wondering why he never played with one of these before. He changed the eye color to purple and almost fell over laughing. He tried blue. _Hmmmm too light . . . Now it's too dark . . . I think this might work._

The golden hair caught his attention. Blonde might be too noticeable. It's always easy to pick Lucy out of a crowd, not to mention Sting and Laxus. He frowned and started to play with the hair dial again. He jumped as the door slid open, letting Cancer into the room.

"Lucy wanted me to change the length as well." Cancer grinned, showing off his scissors.

Natsu stared blankly at him. "Do I have to?"

He heard Lucy from the other room shout out "YES" so he sighed and took a seat in front of the mirror. He rested his cheek on his hand and elbow on the counter, face clearly bored.

Cancer tried going shorter first. Natsu grimaced, he never liked his hair short. Cancer took his response in consideration and started to make it longer.

"Well, since you don't like it short, we will have to make it longer. Your hair is unique and wants to fly out in all directions." Natsu huffed grumpily and mumbled about how he likes his hair.

Once cancer was done Natsu was impressed. It wasn't too much longer than it usually was, just long enough so that his hair didn't go out in it's usual directions. Cancer looked proud. "I thinned your hair and added length so that it would stay down easier and would naturally hold itself different."

"Thanks, crab man!"

Virgo appeared in front of Natsu. She blinked a few times with a blank face before speaking. "Princess has requested that I bring some outfits over so that no one would recognize you." She handed Natsu the clothes and bowed.

"Oh, thanks Virgo!" He held up the shirt and frowned. "Could I have something without a sleeve on the right shoulder?"

Virgo stared at him, face still blank. "Sorry, Princess specifically told me you need both sleeves." She gave another low bow. "Please speak with the Princess about this after you change." She disappeared with a poof. Natsu hastily changed, shoving his beloved scarf in his pocket (Virgo's idea) and asked Cancer to have Lucy close his eyes as he leaves.

Once Natsu went into the kitchen to be out of sight, and most likely raid her fridge, she went to the bathroom. She put on her bracelet and started to play with the dial. She first tried blue hair and giggled. _No, I feel like blue still stands out a lot. _She thought about more of her guild mates and tried green, white, pink, and a light purple.

She was having fun with this and knew that she should be getting serious but couldn't help it. An idea popped in her head and she changed her hair to pink. She laughed harder. She looked in the mirror and decided to try and finish the look while she was at it. She switched so her eyes were that familiar olive green color. _Hmm, I don't look too bad like this. I think I might pull off this look better than he can. _Her smirk soon turned into a giggle which developed into a whole fit of laughter.

Natsu could be heard outside the door. "Is everything okay in there Luce?"

She controlled herself. "Yes. Everything is fine."

She looked at the hair and knew she would have to change that. She started switching to normal colors. Red, _maybe_, brown, _possibility, _black, _whoa!_ She never imagined herself with black hair. She didn't hate it, but she couldn't quite tell if she liked it. She definitely didn't recognize herself though. She looked at her eyes and decided to keep them green, just change them from olive to emerald. She smiled.

Cancer stepped in and said that Natsu left and wanted Lucy to meet him in the park. She smiled. Cancer went to work and from her request, made her hair much longer. He then styled it all in a long side ponytail so it curled teasingly and went almost to her waist. Virgo soon appeared with her outfit.

Lucy was impressed. She always loved Virgo's style and outfits, but specifically requested a more normal outfit. She also requested everything she brought be fireproof, knowing her destructive friend.

The dress was a very flattering knee length, mint green dress with a black belt around the waist. The top of the dress still showed some of her cleavage, but was a bit more modest than her usual outfit. She also supplied a pair of mid-calf length black boots. She smiled in the mirror. If she barely recognized herself, then Natsu might not either. She asked Virgo if she has any perfume to try and mask her "scent" from Natsu. She knew he could smell her a mile away and wanted a chance to win this one against him. Virgo gave her a flowery one which she adored. _New favorite!_

She requested Loke to come out after Cancer and Virgo left. He was stunned. "Lucy . .You look amazing!"

She blushed. "Loke, can you go to the park and see if you can find Natsu, I want to make sure that not even you don't recognize him. I'll arrive a few minutes after you, don't make contact with me, just leave after 5 minutes."

Loke gave her a thumbs up. "You bet!"

* * *

Natsu sat in the park, knowing that Lucy was going to take forever. He figured that he would just people watch and hope to find her first. The park was busy, bustling with family's on picnics, people taking walks, or others, like himself, relaxing on the benches. After about 15 minutes he smelled someone familiar. He looked and grimaced. Bisca and her family were one of the many family's taking a stroll through the park. He smiled softly as he watched them place their picnic basket down and started giggling and telling stories. He was hoping they wouldn't recognize him.

Another familiar scent grabbed his attention. He looked over without moving his head to see Loke walking through the park. He was intently looking at everyone in the park. As he started to eye Natsu suspiciously until some girl plopped down next to him.

He looked over to see a brunette with bright brown eyes blushing at him. "Hi, I've never seen you before! Are you new to town?"

"Uh, no. . ?"

"Really? Are you sure? I think I would have remembered seeing a cutie like you before!"

Natsu raised his eyebrow. "Yea?" The blush on that girl's face was almost the color of Erza's hair at this point.

She giggled. "So what are you doing in the park this afternoon?"

He smirked lazily. "Just waiting for a friend."

She furrowed her eyebrows slightly, "A girl?"

"Yea."

She frowned faintly and slowly stood up. "Well if she doesn't show up or anything, I'll be over there across the park with a few of my friends. I'd love to hang out with you!"

He gave her a grin and went to say okay and she started to blush again and jogged away. He glanced around. _Hmmmm Leo's gone?_

He sighed_. Did he notice that I'm me, or did I fool him?_

He looked around the park casually and tried to focus on all of the girls. _Which one could Lucy be?_

He suddenly got a whiff of her scent. He sat up a little straighter, trying to not be obvious about sniffing around. She clearly tried to mask her scent with perfume and it was working better than he hoped. He gave up on the smell and started to breathe through his mouth. He will try to win this fair and square, but at least he knew she was somewhere nearby. He saw a redhead and a blonde talking. He frowned. _What color would she change her hair to? I can't imagine her with any other color. _Natsu let his eyes roam through the park and was starting to get frustrated. Everyone was just casually roaming around the park, no one was looking obvious. His focus kept going to all of the blondes. _Damn! She wouldn't keep her hair the same color. _He looked down at the ground, running his hand through his hair trying to focus on his thoughts, _what color would she chose?_

A pair of black boots stepped in front of him. He slowly looked up, taking in every detail of the young woman before him. Her long black hair pulled off to the side, swinging teasingly against her hip. He watched her green eyes look over him before staring into his own eyes; her smile looked a little cautious. _Lucy?_

Lucy walked around the park a few times. There were only 5 guys in the park by themselves. Three were definitely not Natsu. One had a long, almost pointy nose, she was afraid that it might poke someone's eye out. One of the others gave her lecherous stare and she knew Natsu wasn't going to do that. The last one was much too tall and skinny and reading a book. She looked at her other two options. She walked by the nearest and saw that he was sleeping. She stared for a few seconds and decided that it couldn't be him. Just wasn't his face.

She looked to her last option, and gulped. She half wished it wasn't him. She saw him casually glance around the park so peacefully. She shook a little as she took steps. This man, was freaking gorgeous; she was a little intimidated to talk to him. Not that she didn't like Natus' look, no on the contrary. But Natsu was just obvious and he tended to be goofy and never sat still. This guy, he seemed to be super serious yet peaceful at the same time. She at first was going to count him out of the running since some other girl was talking to him, but she left a few minutes ago. Lucy felt her legs take her over to him; one boot in front of the other. She finally stopped in front of him.

He was leaned over, looking exasperated, his hand going through his brown hair. He slowly looked up, meeting her face. Her breath hitched. _Can I even breathe?_ His blue eyes watched her curiously. She gulped. "Is this seat taken?" She asked, trying to sound confident and poised.

He raised his eyebrow. "Go ahead." He gave his head a slight nod to the spot next to him and watched her sit.

She placed her hands at her sides, and crossed her ankles swaying them side to side. "Have you been waiting long?" She looked over to him, matching his blue eyes with her sparkling emerald green eyes. "Natsu."

_CRAP!_ He let a sly smirk run across his face. "Do you have the right guy?" He stared blankly at her. She gave him a suspicious look, clearly unconvinced; he wondered how long he could pull off confusing her. He couldn't believe that it was Lucy, _HIS LUCY!_ Looking at her this close, he saw that her hair was much longer than it used to be. She had beautiful green eyes, almost the color of emeralds. He breathed in through his nose, not clearly sniffing the air, to try and absorb the scents around him. He could smell that Lucy nearby, but again there was a flower smell overpowering her own. Looking closer at her face, he could tell it looked familiar.

He tried to mimic Gray's lazy posture on the bench and looked out across the park. He could see the girl that had come up to him earlier with her friends, she was looking their way with a large pout. Lucy followed his gaze, before returning to observe the outfit this _guy _was wearing. He was in long black pants and a red shirt with some kind of designs and had black sleeves that went halfway down the arms. He wasn't wearing the scarf that was his trademark, but then again, he is supposed to be disguised.

She suddenly wished that she didn't have Virgo get him a different outfit, this one just made him look that much different, which is good and all, but now she kept doubting herself. She scooted closer and sighed, looking over to Bisca and Alzak's little family. "Look how peaceful they are. It's cute, ya know?" She looked over to him shyly, staring into his blue eyes. He looked over to the little family and she saw the corner of his mouth twitch into a small smile. She grinned. "Well I'm going to get some dinner." She stood up and took several steps. She looked over her shoulder, her long raven black hair cascading over her shoulder, down her back. She watched him playfully. "Are you coming?"

"Sure." He smiled and followed her. He was about to stick his hands behind his head and realized that he ALWAYS does that. If he needed to be able to fool his guild mates, he needed to change his habits. _How does Gray walk? He always looks like he's sulking or something. Ugh! I don't want to copy him but I can't think of anyone else._ Natsu shoved his hands in his pant pockets and walked next to his friend; she was watching him with interest.

She beamed at him. "Very convincing."

He let out a sigh. "How did you know it was me?"

She looked at him. "I'll tell you over dinner. Where do you wanna go?"

"You won, where do you want to go?" She ended up leading him to his favorite restaurant; he smiled. _Even when she wins, she still puts me first. _

**Thank you everyone for your continued support. I hope you love this chapter, don't worry, the changes aren't permanent by any means, just a fun change up so they can go on more quests. I look forward to writing more of the adventures and more fights, I plan on having several different adventures and those chapters might run longer. =) **


	17. Chapter 17

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 17**

Erza left the meeting about hour after Natsu stormed out. She watched Happy fly to the bar and talk with Lisanna. _Lisanna._

Erza watched her carefully. She's almost fully healed since the incident, at least on the outside. She saw that Lisanna looked nervously around her whenever she was in the guild, trying to avoid anyone besides her siblings. She's been working in the kitchen while Mira has been covering the bar and taking orders. Erza remembered the haunted look in Lisanna's eyes when they came back with not only an unconscious Natsu, but with a very injured Lucy.

_She must blame herself._

Now that Mira was once again at the counter, taking orders and greeting people, Lisanna slipped away into the safety of the back rooms. She let out a soft sigh of relief.

"Lisanna."

Lisanna felt her whole body freeze, every fiber in her body suddenly felt numb and she couldn't move. She heard footsteps approach her from behind and grab her shoulder, turning her around. There she stood, facing Erza and her intent, mahogany eyes. "Lisanna, we need to talk."

Lisanna could feel herself shake. _No one has said the obvious to me yet. No one has told me that it's my fault for dragging Natsu out and abandoning him when he needed me most. Now Erza is here. Erza who isn't afraid to tell it like it is. Erza, who is a part of Natsu and Lucy's team. I deserve whatever punishment I get. It's my fault they were both hurt. _

Erza saw Lisanna shaking, whether it was fear or anticipation, she couldn't decipher. She watched the young, white haired mage look away in shame. Erza cautiously stepped to her. "Lisanna." She tried to speak gently, knowing that her tone tended to be too abrupt as Lucy always told her. "Why are you hiding?"

Lisanna's blue eyes shot open and stared at Erza in horror. _Has it been that obvious?_ "I . . .I . ." She cleared her throat, trying to find some composure. "I don't know what you are talking about Erza!"

Erza raised her eye brow. "Lisanna, please, I'm here as a friend, a fellow guild member. I'm worried about you." She took a step forward, grabbing Lisanna's hand. "What happened to Natsu wasn't your fault.

Lisanna turned her head away, closing her eyes to try and prevent the tears from coming. She bit her lip.

"In fact, if you hadn't left to get help, both Happy and Natsu would be in trouble. You saved them by getting help."

She snapped her head and stared at Erza, tears already forming in the corner of her eyes. "I wasn't strong enough!" She practically shouted. "If I was stronger, maybe I wouldn't have had to leave. Maybe I could have helped Natsu fight them off and we could have had a chance."

Erza stared at her sadly. "I don't think that would have helped." Lisanna looked taken aback, Erza continued. "Even having Gray, Lucy and myself fighting, we struggled greatly against 3 of their members. The only reason we were able to escape was due to the fact that they captured Lucy and escaped." Erza looked away, ashamed at herself for not fighting better herself. "Lisanna, if we were the ones there when the attack was originally started, I don't know if we would have fared any better. At least you were able to escape and seek help from others in the guild, to warn us what happened. If it weren't for that, it would have taken several more days for us to realize something was wrong."

Lisanna watched Erza battle her own inner turmoil. "Does . .does Natsu blame me?"

Erza looked at her, confused. "What?! Why would he do that? From what he told me, he told you to get help."

Lisanna looked away. "Does Lucy hate me?"

Erza grabbed her should and gave a light squeeze, Lisanna looked back to Erza's face. "What could you have done to make her hate you?"

"I convinced Natsu to take a few jobs with me. I insisted for us to keep doing more. I left him. I abandoned him in his time of need."

Erza pulled her into a gently hug. "Lisanna, I told you, you didn't abandon him, he told you to . ."

Lisanna pushed herself away from Erza. "NO! I left him!" Tears streamed down her face. "He needed me and I left him. She wouldn't have left him, she would have stayed by his side until the very end. Don't tell me she wouldn't have, I've heard enough of their stories to know that she would have just stayed."

She crumpled to her knees, sobbing. Erza was at a loss for words.

"Lisanna . ." Erza jumped and turned around. Mira was standing in the doorway, a few tears running down her face. "Oh Lisanna! I didn't know that you were this upset. I . .I'm so sorry." She rushed to her sister's side, giving her a hug.

Erza bit her lip; she wasn't aware of how deep Lisanna's guilt was. It wasn't going to be as simple as she thought to comfort the girl. Erza rubbed her hand over her face, considering what she should say next.

"Mira . ." Lisanna's voice cracked. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm not strong like you. I wish I could be better."

"Lisanna, you are strong, would be stronger in fact, if it wasn't for us holding you back all the time. We've seen how much you've grown in the past few weeks. We should have let you go on more missions earlier. I know before you left, you really only did missions with us anyways, so it wasn't fair for us to make you do that when you got back." Lisanna looked up into her sister's eyes. Mira smiled sadly at her. "Oh Lisanna. You are strong, and we see that more than ever. In fact, I was just talking to the master about looking through what teams could use another member and which team you could would complement. We were going to talk to you about it once you got back with Natsu, but with everything that has happened, we haven't gotten the chance."

"Really?" she sniffed.

Erza smiled. "In fact I offered to Mira and the Master for you to join our team every now and then." She saw the fear and uncertainty cloud Lisanna's eyes. She hastily added, "Of course, whenever you are up to it that is. . ."

Mira smiled at Erza and looked encouragingly to her sister. Erza smiled at them softly. "Mira, take your time, I will take care of the bar in your absence." As she turned around, she heard them chuckle softly.

Once at the bar, she spotted Cana staring down at her cars that were spread out across the counter. "Cana, how can I help you?"

Cana was surprised to see Erza. "Uhhh . . Just waiting on Mira."

Erza smiled. "Mira is . . preoccupied at the moment. I will be filling in for her."

Cana's response was one of disappointment. "Oh. Well . ." She looked down at her cards before she started to clean them up. "I'll just catch her later." She looked up to see Erza's eyebrow raised. She chuckled to herself and left with a small wave. "Tell Mira to come see me when she isn't busy!"

Gray sauntered over, shirtless as always. "Erza, what are you doing behind the bar."

"Mira stepped out for a few minutes and I offered to fill in until she returns." She stated in a 'matter of fact' tone. She gave him a quizzical glare. "Is that a problem?"

He looked somewhat surprised and nervous. "Oh no, not at all!" His smile was a little fake and twitchy, the same as when she catches him and Natsu fighting. She wasn't sure if she should be satisfied with his response so she maintained her composure. He turned serious and casually leaned forward. "So, what was the meeting about?"

She scoffed. "It was a private meeting for Dragon Slayers; I'm sorry, you are not allowed to know that information."

Gray huffed. "You and Mira were there, not to mention Lucy and all of the Exceeds."

Erza realized that Gray was in his boxers now. _When did he have a chance to take off his pants without me realizing it?! _She put her hands up to her temples and took a deep breath. "You may ask Master if you want, it will be up to him to divulge that information. I understand your frustration since you are the only one on our team who wasn't invited and you were there at the incident." She hardened her look to a pointed glare. "BUT YOU NEED TO PUT ON SOME CLOTHING FIRST!"

Gray looked down, shocked to find that he is only in his boxers. He got up grumbling, looking around the guild hall for his clothing. Erza shook her head, laughing to herself.

After some time, Mira came back, surprised to see the guild hall so empty during one of their busier times. She watched Erza glowering over a few other guild members, demanding that they clean the mess they made. _That solves that mystery. _She giggled to herself. "Erza, thank you for your help. I'm back now, so you are free to go. As a thank you for watching the bar, I have something for you!" She placed a plate with a piece of strawberry cake on the counter.

Erza's eyes lit up as she came to the counter. "Thank you Mira!" She took the plate and sat herself on the other side of the guild, complete joy on her face. Mira looked over the almost empty guild hall, wondering what the future had in store for their little family.

**Thank you everyone for reading this far into my story. I really hope you are all enjoying it, this is my first fanfiction so I'm having a lot of fun writing it. I wanted to include this chapter because I don't feel that Lisanna is a bad or mean character and she didn't want to 'abandon' Natsu when everything happened, even if heading to the guild was the best option. I actually love Lisanna's character, even if I'm a NaLu fan =P.**

**I'll be posting another chapter for this story again this upcoming Friday, May 15th. =) I'll be updating my other story, A New World, Wednesday, May 13th. =) **


	18. Chapter 18

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 18**

At dinner, Lucy had to remind Natsu several times to eat slower, like a normal human. She was getting exasperated. "Natsu, remember what we agreed on, if we can't even fool the guild, how can we know you would be safe. Our plan is to show the master that we can spend a majority of the morning tomorrow at the guild without being recognized."

Natsu let out a low groan. _This is starting to sound like too much work. _He glanced up at the new Lucy. _I miss how she usually looks. _

She stared at Natsu, shocked that he actually listened for once, and started to mimic how people nearby were eating. She felt uneasy. Besides her team mates, she never really ate out in public with anyone else before. _I know he's Natsu, but it feels weird cause he doesn't look exactly like Natsu. _She glanced up at him before staring at her plate, not hungry. _This kinda feels like a date. Weird. _She pushed her plate towards him with a sigh. "Go ahead. I'm not hungry."

He looked at her curiously, before slowly pulling the plate towards him. She missed his weird pink hair and his olive green eyes. She even hated to admit that she missed him wearing his usual outfits. She rested her elbow on the table, plopping her head in her hand with a soft sigh.

He finished the food and watched her staring off into space. The waiter came back and picked up the plates, and placed a small piece of cake in front of Lucy. "Oh, Uh. I didn't order this. . ?"

The waiter smiled flirtatiously to her. "Oh I know, I just thought that someone so sweet could use something a little sweet herself." He winked and gave her a playful smile. Natsu felt his teeth start to grind.

Lucy blushed slightly. "Oh, ah . . thank you . . ?"

"We are ready for the check." Natsu said pointedly to the waiter. He received a haughty glare back and the man left.

Lucy raised her eyebrow and giggled. "Do you want some of my cake? I'm not all that hungry."

He crossed his arms on the table, placing his head down. "Nah, I'm probably not 'sweet' enough to enjoy it."

She laughed. "I think you are, C'mon!" She took a fork full and held it out to him. Natsu smiled. _Same old Lucy, completely oblivious to guys trying so hard around you._ He took the fork full and soon they were splitting the entire slice.

Once they paid the bill, Lucy looked at Natsu with a small smile. "Sooo . . now what?"

Natsu looked out the window and thought about it. "I don't know. What do we do about Happy, are we telling him or trying to surprise him as well?"

Lucy's face paled. "Oh crap! I forgot about Happy!"

Natsu chuckled. "He won't be too thrilled to hear that."

Lucy pouted. "Please don't tell him! I don't want his feelings hurt." Natsu gave a small nod, smiling at her. "Well I suppose we can just leave a note at your place."

"Why my place?" He raised his eyebrow.

"I don't know, cause maybe that where you both LIVE?!" She replied, sarcasm heavy in her tone.

He laughed standing up. "Yea, he will probably check your place first. He knows we've been together all day."

She slumped farther into her seat, letting out a small huff of annoyance. He chuckled again, putting out his hand. "C'mon Luce, we can walk and figure out a plan."

She took his hand and followed him out of the restaurant. Looking at the sky, she could already see that it was getting dark. "Well where are we going to stay then?"

He thought about it. "Well even if we did stay at your place, it smells too much like you. OH! I know, we can just stay at my place!" He smiled excitedly towards her.

She put her hand to her forehead. "Wouldn't that just smell like you then?"

He smiled a toothy grin towards her, "Erza gave me a lacrima spray that eats away odors, remember?"

She smiled. "How could I forget? She let you keep it?"

"Yea, after I saved the town with it. She bought me a new one."

Lucy smiled, "Well, let's go to my house and write a note to Happy before it gets too late and he sees us."

They arrive to Lucy's apartment and decide not to take any clothing since Virgo already assured Lucy that she has plenty for them both. Natsu raids the fridge and Lucy grabs some of her extra blankets and pillows and writes a note to Happy.

_Happy,_

_Natsu and I will be out for a few days. If you stay here, and not go back to your house, not only can you eat all of the fish in my fridge, but I will take you on a fishing trip with Natsu when we come back. Don't tell anyone at the guild either. _

_We'll see you soon and I promise to explain everything then! _

_~Lucy~_

Lucy, satisfied with her letter, set it on the bed. "I hope he comes here first, or else the whole thing is ruined." She let out a soft sigh.

She grabbed her perfume that Virgo gave her and crammed everything in a backpack. Natsu used her spare back pack to hoard the food and placed a jacket that matched his outfit. _Virgo must have given that to him._

Lucy thought to herself and remembered how messy their house was last time she cleaned it and shuddered. She reached under her sink and started pulling out cleaning supplies. Natsu watched her curiously. "What are you doing?"

"Grabbing some things to clean."

"Lucy, we don't have time to clean, I'm sure Happy is probably leaving the guild soon, the sun will set in the next hour or so."

She stared at him. "I'm taking this to your house. Remembering the last time I cleaned there, I know I'll need it."

"What do you mean the last time?"

She raised her eyebrow. "I cleaned your house one time when you and Happy weren't home."

Natsu laughed. "You don't even know where we live!"

She sighed, exasperated. "Well I followed you home 'cause I wanted to surprise you guys for a change. Once you guys left, I snuck in. It was so messy I just couldn't stand it so I cleaned it."

The look on Natsu's face could be defined as bewilderment. Lucy laughed to herself. "Who do you think cleaned it?"

Natsu crossed his arms and looked away. "I thought it smelled a bit like you but I didn't know you knew where I lived." He looked at her. "You didn't use any fancy chemicals at my house before though, and the smell was kinda too strong to bear for a few days."

Lucy frowned. "I'm sorry." She started placing the cleaning supplies back. "I never considered that."

Natsu smiled reassuringly. "That's okay Luce, I know you were just trying to be nice. Wow so you know where I live? Are you my official stalker now?"

She giggled. "I wouldn't take it that far."

He grinned. "You were like . . A NINJA!"

They both laughed and scooped up the backpacks, heading towards the door. Once they were quite a distance down the street, Natsu stopped. Lucy turned to him, "What's wrong?"

He was sniffing the air and looked back towards her apartment. There, outside her window, was a little blue cat. They watched him fly up and go down the chimney. "Well I guess we don't have to worry about Happy not seeing the note." Lucy smiled. Natsu absent mindedly nodded his head and they continued to his house.

Once they were out of town and walking down the dirt path towards his house, Lucy stopped. Natsu instantly noticed her lack of presence next to him turned around. She was gazing with wonder at the setting sun in the distance. "Oh wow. The view!" She turned excitedly to Natsu. "It's breath taking!"

Natsu smiled, trying to sound serious. "Don't let it take too much of your breath away, we need to keep you living."

She stared at him, wondering if she should take him seriously or not. She turned back towards the rainbow sky, and took a few steps off the path into the grass and sat down. "I'm going to enjoy this just for a bit more." She looked over her shoulder questioningly, tapping the ground next to her. "Want to join me?"

He smiled and sauntered over, ungracefully plopping down next to her. She giggled and soon it was just quiet and peaceful. Before long, the colors faded from the sky, and a dark blue/ blackness claimed the heavens. Natsu looked questioningly over to Lucy. Knowing his question she laid on her back and continued to stare at the sky, eyes raking over the expanse carefully. "I always love to find the first star of the night."

He felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth; he laid down and joined her search. Natsu noticed Lucy shiver from his peripherals. "Are you cold?"

She smiled sheepishly. "A little."

He sat up and pulled out his jacket from his backpack. She smiled at him with gratitude and put it on before laying back down. She sat up quickly, making him jump. "THERE IT IS!" She looked over to Natsu while pointing at the sky. He smiled, trying to hide his chuckle at her childlike enthusiasm.

He followed to where she was pointing and sure enough, one star claimed the sky. "There it is." He repeated after her.

She stood up, dusting herself off. "Alright, let's go home." He looked over to her curiously. "I mean . . your home." He could see her cheeks blush even in the dark.

Feeling his smile grow even wider, he gave one last look around him. "Yea, let's go home."

Soon they arrived outside of his little hut. Lucy stared at it with dread. "What?" He watched her face grimace, deep in thought.

"How bad is it?" She looked at his confused expression and chuckled. "How bad is the mess?"

He smiled. "You will just have to find out."

He opens the door and walks in, using the fire in his hand to light his way over to a lamp. Lucy walks in and is surprised. Yea, it's cluttered and could use a good sweep and dusting. But it isn't anywhere near as bad as last time. She follows Natsu into the kitchen and sees that the dishes definitely need to be done and more sweeping and dusting. She scanned house, making a priority list.

"Okay Natsu, you clean the kitchen while I'll clean the main area of the house." He gives her a displeased look. "When we are done, I'll make us a snack." She giggled at how quickly he changed his mood and started to bustle around. She took off the jacket and tossed it casually on his hammock. She proceeded to dust, shake off the cushions on the couch, picked up the laundry littering the floor and sweep. Lucy was pleased that everything was still organized from when she last came.

She poked her head into the kitchen to check on his progress and was surprised that he actually managed to do the dishes and was clearing the table slowly. "Natsu, you never did answer my question. Who did you guys think cleaned the house?"

He looked up at her and blushed. "Well . .like I said, I thought I could faintly smell you, so I kept that as a possibility, but we weren't too sure." Lucy walked over and sat down at the table and he joined her. "Happy was convinced that it was the cleaning gods or fairies and he always tells me we have to be careful to not displease them." He chuckled lightly. "I guess I believed him. We didn't want to make it too bad again, so we have been trying to manage it better than we used to. Thanks to how well it was cleaned and organized, it was a lot easier." He beamed at her.

She blushed. "I'll make us a quick snack. What do you want?"

They agreed on grilled cheese; she made one for herself and 8 for him.

After eating, Lucy decided to go to bed. She summoned Virgo, who brought with her a whole rack of clothing for the both of them. Once they had the clothing, Natsu took out the Odor eating lacrima and sprayed the entire house, the clothing, and themselves before placing it on the kitchen table.

Lucy changed into capris length pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, while Natsu changed his pants and left his shirt off. Lucy placed sheets down on top of the couch and put a heavier one down she could climb under. Natsu simply stretched out on his hammock and watched her. She brushed her teeth and climbed into bed, turning off the lamp on the small table next to her. "Night Natsu."

"Night Lucy."

* * *

Lucy awoke to a loud thud; she sat up and looked around. The room was dark, but she could make out some kind of soft glow from the middle of the room. Near the glow she could hear Natsu grumbling. She could barely make out his silhouette in the darkness standing. "N . .Natsu . . ?"

His head snapped towards her, and she could see the white of his eyes reflecting in the night. He let out an exasperated sigh and walked over to her. Natsu crouched next to her and hoarsely whispered. "Hey Luce, did I wake you? Sorry 'bout that." He chuckled quietly and ruffled her hair playfully with his hand. "I'm going to step outside for a bit, I'll be back." He quickly got up and strode out the door.

Lucy pulled her legs off of the couch and onto the cold wood floor. Shivering against the crisp night air, she grabbed Natsu's jacket from earlier which he casually tossed off of the hammock onto the floor and put it on. She looked over the soft glow that was slowly disappearing and curiously walked over to it. It looked like embers and definitely smelled like something had burned. Looking up, she gasped.

His hammock was completely gone, only two roped hung carelessly in the room. She felt the bottom of one and it was still really warm and burned. She grabbed her keys and went out the door and quickly started to search for Natsu. With the sky being filled with so many stars, Lucy could see relatively well and was surprised how peaceful it was up here. The crickets chirped happily and she could hear an owl hooting in the distance. She made her way down the front path away from the house, wishing she grabbed shoes.

After a few minutes she decides she might as well go back. As she gave the area one last look, she saw his silhouette on a nearby hill.

Lucy walked over to him and laid down next to him. He eyed her warily. "What are you doing out here."

"I could ask you the same thing."

Natsu let out a big sigh and continued to stare at the stars above him. Lucy followed his lead. "What happened to your hammock?"

She could see him tense out of the corner of her eye. "I . ." He let out another sigh and sat up, facing her. She propped up herself up on her elbows, listening. "I burned it." His gazed remained glued to the night sky above, avoiding her eyes.

She stared at him bewildered. "Why?"

He snuck a quick glance before looking away again. "Just couldn't get comfortable. It's no big deal."

She narrowed her eyes, not believing him. _His voice was too confident and easy going with how nervous he was acting before. Well if he doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't have to. I'll just ask Happy next time I see him. _Lucy lays back down and stared at the sky with all of it's glory. She felt a small shiver run through her body and Natsu frowns at her.

"Why don't you have any shoes on?"

She smirked. "At least I remembered the jacket."

He grinned and let out a small chuckle; scooting a little closer, Natsu laid back down putting his hands behind his head.

**Alright, glad I could post another chapter this week. =) I'll be posting the next chapter to this story next Wednesday. **

**Unfortunately, even though this next week is my last week of school, I'm going on vacation right after I finish. So there will be several weeks of me not updating this story and my other story. I will be posting for sure next Wednesday, and I will try my best to post another chapter Friday or Saturday as well. **

**My other story A New World I will be posting a chapter sometime tomorrow and I will be posting another chapter next Friday/ Saturday as well. **

**I will try my best to type up some of my story while on vacation; unfortunately, I won't have any computer access and will be limited to my phone (which is not the best phone). So again, sorry in advance for the break from the stories. I will try my best to update the stories as soon as possible. **

**Love you all and thank you for the continued support everyone! I hope you are all enjoying this story!**


	19. Chapter 19

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 19**

Lucy knew the sun had risen from the brightness on the outside of her eyelids. _5 more minutes won't kill me. _Lucy took a deep breath and felt fresh, crisp air fill her lungs. She grumbled and decided to stretch her muscles before finding a more comfortable sleeping position. As she stretches, she realized that she doesn't have a blanket over her, yet she is content and warm. She rolls over and is jolted awake from the lack of warmth and a face full of grass. Eyes shooting open, she sits up with a sleepy groan.

_Why am I outside? _Lucy turns to her left and spots a browned haired boy contently sleeping where she was just lying. Lucy's face paled. _WHO THE HELL IS THAT?! _Memories of the previous day flood her mind and she giggled to herself for her own silliness. She softly looks at him. _Would his feelings be hurt if he knew I didn't recognize him right away? Really, with his eyes closed, everything else about him besides his hair is the same. How did I not recognize him right away? _She tries to shake whatever feelings she thinks she was about to consider out of her head. _No, right now, we have to be serious._

She looks around the area, soaking in the beautiful morning view she has on this hill. There are gorgeous flowers littering the hillside and even a beautiful cherry blossom tree not too far. She gets up and runs down the hill. Once she turns around, she gasped. _It's even more beautiful from this angle! _Her eyes rest on Natsu who was starting to wake up. She watches him pat aimlessly next to him where she was previously laying. He sat up and looked around sluggishly; once seeing her, he gave her a bewildered look before throwing himself back and stretching.

Lucy couldn't hold back her giggle; she ran back up the hill filled with energy. "NATSU! Get up!"

He opened his eyes and beamed at her. "Geez Luce, when's the last time you washed your hair? It's starting to look black." His voice rang out playfully.

She grinned and picked up his hand, pulling him up. "C'mon! Today we are going to visit the master! We can see what he says about our appearances."

This helped motivate Natsu to get up and follow her. Once they were back at his place, Natsu whined that it didn't smell like home. Lucy walked over to where Natsu's hammock previously hung. She bent down to the pile of ash on the floor and touched it gently. Natsu jolted her out of her train of thought when he started sweeping up the mess wordlessly. Lucy took his hint that he didn't want to talk and moved away. She grabbed a new outfit and went to his bathroom.

"Natsu, how do I use your shower?" She heard him chuckle as he entered behind her. She watched him turn the odd mismatched nozzles and soon water appeared. She reached out her and almost yelped. "Do you have any hot water?"

He stared at her blankly. "I . .Uh . . Never needed it before."

She raised her eyebrow. "Never needed hot water here before? Really?"

He just shrugged and placed the plug at the bottom of the tub. "Let me know when the tub is full. She frowned after him. Soon the tub was full and she called him in so he could turn the nobs. She was surprised he stayed there and checked the tub, walking around it carefully. Looking over his shoulder, he gave her a cocky grin. Lighting his hands on fire, Natsu put his fire magic against the side. Lucy tested the water after a few minutes and it was perfect. "Wow. Fire magic has its perks!" He laughed leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

After taking a nice, slow bath, Lucy finally pulled herself out and got dressed. She looked down at her outfit and frowned. _Well it's not something that I would normally wear, I just wish I could see what it looks like. His mirror is so small. _

Lucy stepped out and gasped. "Natsu!" He looked over to her curiously. Lucy walked over to his hammock. It was like his other hammock wasn't ever destroyed. "Did you make this?"

"Oh. Uh . . Yea." He scratched the back of his neck and looked away.

"You are amazing at this! Total Pro!"

He smiled grimly to himself and muttered, "Well I have had lot of practice."

Lucy didn't make any acknowledgment to his comment, so Natsu just shrugged it off and went to the rack of clothes in the middle of the room. He grabbed an outfit and walked to the restroom. Lucy watched him and plopped into the hammock. _It's comfier than it looks._

Natsu walked out of the restroom and couldn't help but grin. There is his weird version of Lucy sleeping in his new hammock. _She looks so peaceful. DAMNIT! If we didn't have to do such important stuff today I would totally draw on her face! _He quietly chuckled to himself and grabbed the odor eating lacrima off the table and placed it in his pant pocket. He picked up the jacket for his outfit and decides to put it on. Wearing extra layers rarely bothered him, he just hated when it'd catch on fire. Virgo assured him that everything she brought was fireproof and it felt pretty breathable. He looked back to Lucy. _I really need to wake her up, I'm sttaaarrrrvvviinnggg! _

He nudges the hammock and it started to swing. Getting a brilliant idea, Natsu pushed it harder, and harder, and harder. Soon the hammock was swinging high and sure enough he heard her shriek. Natsu rolls on the floor laughing while listening to Lucy curse at him.

Lucy was holding on to the ropes for dear life, hearing his laughter only fueled her anger even more. "NATSU! I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T GET ME DOWN FROM HERE I WILL . ."

She shifted and the whole thing spun, throwing Lucy out and flying across the room. Natsu jumped and caught her, resulting in them crashing on top of the couch in a fit of laughter.

She playfully swatted his arm, "What were you trying to do, kill me?"

He chuckled, pushing her off of him. "Nah, just waking you up." She tried to hold a displeased expression, but his contagious grin got the best of her and soon she was smiling like a weirdo as well.

Grabbing her small back pack which she stuffed her keys and whip into, she hastily walked out the door; Natsu followed close behind her after grabbing his jacket off of the couch.

Natsu glanced over to Lucy. She was slowly walking down the path towards town, looking at the scenery with a peaceful expression. He watched the black hair sway as she walked. He noticed, for the first time that day, what she was wearing. She was wearing a red blouse and a black, pleated skirt (longer than her usual skirts skimming just above her knees) and the same black boots she wore the previous day. She had a pair of white gloves she was wearing, clearly covering her guild mark. On her back, she wore a small red and black backpack. He looked down at his own outfit and chuckled. _Virgo LOVES to get us matching outfits. I didn't realize that I grabbed the matching one until now. _

Lucy looked over her should at Natsu. "Hey Natsu . . We will need to use different names. . They would catch on really quickly if we use our names. Especially yours."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't think Natsu is a very common name. Lucy is much more common, just not a super popular one."

Natsu frowned. "Well what names should we use then?" Lucy looked over him before stopping and putting her finger under her chin thoughtfully. Natsu watched her and sighed. "Lucy, let's figure it out over breakfast! I'm soooo huuunnnngggrrrrrryyyy!"

Lucy smiled at his childish whining. "Okay. I was just going to go to the guild but I suppose we should come up with new names and practice using them."

They made their way to town throwing new names around.

Once they were situated at a small café, Lucy and Natsu ordered 2 meals each (Lucy of course was just going to give most of it to Natsu anyways but didn't want to draw too much attention to Natsu ordering all of that food for just himself).

Lucy stared at Natsu deep in thought while he awkwardly practiced eating like a normal human being. "What about Kasai?" Natsu looked up to Lucy. "It means fire and I think it would fit very well."

Natsu thought about it. "Okay. Do I need a last name?"

"Oh! Uh Draco?"

"Hmm never heard that one before."

Lucy giggled. "It means dragon in Latin."

He stared at her, surprised. "You know more than one language?"

She smiled. A perk of being a wealthy heiress. I actually know several languages. Although I can fluently speak only a few. I understand and can read about 8. . ? I think." His mouth was hanging open at this. "What?"

"What languages do you know?"

"Oh ummm. . .Let me think." Lucy put her finger under her chin, deep in thought. Natsu slid her plate away from her and replaced it with his own empty one like she told him to do earlier. "I know. . Japanese and English fluently. Then I know a lot of Latin, I'm better at reading it than speaking off the top of my head though. I am very familiar with French. Then I can kinda read and understand, not really speak a few others."

Natsu propped his elbow onto the table, resting his head in his hand. "So why haven't I ever heard you speak any of them?"

She shrugged, looking away. "I don't know, never needed to except when I'm reading." She knitted her eyebrows together. "And I suppose I was a little upset and having to learn it all."

Natsu watched her green eyes glazed over as if she was slipping into some distant memory. _Even with her eyes a different color, they still hold her expressions so openly. _"So, why are you upset at that?"

She pulled her eyes towards him and smiled sadly. "My dad, he pushed it to help the business. He wanted me to be an asset whether it was helping him deal with foreign companies or . ." She looked down to her lap where she started to ring her hands. "Or. . to marry me off."

Natsu didn't know what to say to that. He watched her expression fade into the painful memories of childhood and decided to change the subject. "What about Stella?"

She looked at him questioningly. "What?"

"Stella, for your name. . I think I heard someone call you a stellar spirit mage, and said it had something to do with stars. So, What about Stella?"

Lucy's expression grew warm. "I love it. Stella. That's perfect, thanks Natsu. . ER. . I mean . . Kasai. ."

He put a smile on his face. "Alright, can we pleasseeeee head to the guild, I want to talk to gramps."

Lucy frowned thoughtfully. "Yea, but remember, we are going to be new to the guild. I hope no one recognizes our voices, I don't know how much we can change those." She looked at Natsu. "It would be best if you didn't say much."

"What?! Why? Do you think I'm going to screw it up or something?"

"Yes." She scowled in his direction. "And you have been with the guild since you were a kid, they would recognize your voice and habits quicker than mine." He looked away and nodded. _I guess that made sense at least._ "Na . .Kasai, don't forget, you can't fight with Gray and challenge everyone over every little thing. We need to stay close for this to work. Remember, if we screw this up, you won't get approved to go on missions." He nodded, deep in thought, not too pleased by all of the conditions that he has to abide by to go on missions again.

* * *

They finally arrived at the guild hall, after going over the plan very carefully. Lucy opened the door and walked over to the counter where Mira was taking drink orders. The white-haired takeover mage looked up and gave her best welcome smile to the 'strangers' that walked in. "Hello there, welcome to Fairy Tail, how may I help you?"

Lucy gave Natsu a small victory smile that the first impressions have worked and took his hand, pulling him towards the counter. "Hi, we are here to see your master."

Mira looked thoughtful, "Oh? Well I'm sorry to say this, but he won't be back until later this evening. You are more than welcome to wait here in the guild hall until he returns."

Lucy nodded her head, murmuring her thanks. She turned and faced the guild, her green eyes shining brightly. Natsu followed her lead and let his gaze lazily roll over his guild mates. They both froze upon seeing a familiar blue Exceed fly through the guild. Lucy exchanged a nervous look with Natsu before watching the blue Exceed fly across the guild to the female white Exceed with a fish wrapped in a bow.

Mira followed their gazes. "Those are Exceeds, have you seen them before?"

Before Lucy could answer, Natsu instantly replied, "Oh yeah! We know of the Exceed race!"

Lucy would have shot him daggers if it wasn't for Mira's scrutinizing gaze. "We met a group of them traveling a few years back. They were all very nice and explained quite a bit about their homeland. It has been some time since we've seen any though."

Mira nodded seeming to take in what she said. "I didn't catch your names, I'm Mirajane Strauss." She held out her hand, smiling warmly to the duo.

Lucy tentatively held out her gloved hand, trying to put on a convincing smile. "This is Kasai Draco, and I'm Stella."

Mirajane looked between the two curiously. "Stella what?" Lucy looked at Mira questioningly. "Your last name. .?"

_Crap! I didn't even think of a last name. Don't stall for too long or else it will be obviously I'm lying. _Before Lucy could utter the random concoction she was inventing for a last name, Natsu looked over to Lucy and simply supplied, "Draco."

Lucy tried not to gawk at Natsu. _Does he understand what he's insinuating between us?! We don't look like siblings! Great! No turning back now._ Lucy turned to face Mira to be taken aback by the stars in the takeover mages's eyes.

"Oohhhh, that's so sweet." Her smile stretched even wider across her face in a sick, love struck manner.

Natsu looked over to Lucy curiously and she let out a sigh and turned to face the guild. Lucy noticed Natsu stiffen next to her and followed his gaze to the Iron Dragon Slayer sitting in the dark corner. _Well at least this test will really be pushing the limits. If we pull this off, there is no way that the master won't let Natsu go out on missions. _Lucy smiled to herself and continued to scan the guild, remembering to keep an eye on that corner. She saw Gray sitting at a table in the middle of the guild talking with Cana, Reedus, and Juvia.

Lucy turned to Natsu. "So . . Kasai. . Do you want to mingle with the guild mates here before the master returns this evening?"

Natsu watched her hesitantly. "If that's what you want." He watched his blacked haired, green eyed Lucy hop off her bar stool and walk over to the group of mages. Natsu slowly followed, smelling Laxus nearby and feeling Gajeel's attentive glare, Natsu felt on edge. _I know that my scent is masked right now, but they are on high alert until this Dragon Demolisher thing is taken care of. I don't know if coming to the guild as strangers was a great idea. I don't want Lucy to get hurt over this stupid idea. _

Natsu turned his attention to the group at the table that he was approaching only to notice that Lucy was already blushing profusely. Giving her a questioning look, he smiled at the group of mages. Upon his approach, they all stared at him with shocked expressions. _Great, is our cover already blown? _

Juvia turned to Gray and 'whispered' loudly, "Juvia wants what they have with her beloved Gray." Natsu could practically see hearts popping out of her eyes as she stared at the ice mage. Cana laughed and slapped Reedus on the back, saying something about her cards not even being that accurate all of the time. Reedus simply looked down at the table and apologized to Natsu and Lucy.

Before Natsu could ask what happened, Reedus awkwardly handed a painting to Lucy. She snatched it and held it to her chest in embarrassment. "What's on the painting?"

Lucy opened her mouth to speak, only to close it and stare at Natsu. She slowly showed him the painting.

It was a beautiful landscape painting of what looks like a beautiful morning on a hill. There were various types of flowers that seemed to still have the morning dew teasing their petals. On the hill there was a beautiful cherry blossom tree with it's petals playfully dancing in the wind. But even past all of the beauty of the nature of the picture, the main focal point was a young couple cuddling under the tree peacefully in sleep. Natsu didn't see what all of the fuss what about; it was one of those typical romance paintings that people bought to hang on their wall in their fancy houses to pretend they could relate to that.

He glanced over at Lucy and then realized why she was blushing, she looked just like the girl in the painting. He took another long look at the painting trying to figure out why the man looked so familiar; he was tan with brown hair and had his arm wrapped protectively around the weird version of Lucy. The hill itself even felt familiar. It hit Natsu all at once and he quickly shoved the painting back to Lucy, trying to hold back his own blush.

Reedus bowed, "I'm very sorry! I went out this morning on a long walk and was looking for inspiration and. . well. . I'm sorry!"

Lucy hugged the painting close. "It's no problem." She tried to smile warmly at him, but was clearly frazzled. _Great first impression. I can't let Mira see this picture. I actually don't want the guild to know that this is us in these disguises at al nowl. Can we bail on this plan? It's turning out to be too embarrassing! _

Cana, who was giggling throughout a majority of the exchange, stood up and started to make introductions. "Well now that we know you both a bit, let me introduce some of us. I'm Cana, this is Gray, Juvia, and you have apparently already met Reedus."

Lucy softly replied. "Stella. Th. . This is Kasai."

Reedus again bowed. "Please, Stella, Kasai, accept that painting as my apology. I would like to make amends for your clear embarrassment." Lucy and Natsu murmured their appreciation.

**Thank you everyone for your reviews and following this story. A few more chapters before the adventures start back up. I will try to post one more chapter this week, either Friday or Saturday, then I will be taking several weeks off. I am going on vacation and won't have access to a computer. When I get back, I will unfortunately adjusting my writing schedule, I have tendonitis (inflammation) in my wrist. Hopefully this vacation will give it time to get better but this story will only be updated once a week when I get back. Sorry, I wanted to update more frequently, but I'm lucky I will be able to update that much. **

**I love you all.**


	20. Chapter 20

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 20**

"So, Kasai, Stella, what brings you to Fairy Tail?" Gray inquired.

Now that introductions have been made and everyone was starting to get comfortable, except for Lucy and Natsu, and the casual conversation started to flow.

Lucy leaned forward, still clutching the painting against her top. "We have some business with the master here."

A sharp voice from behind startled Lucy and Natsu. "What sort of business?"

Natsu snapped his head around to see Erza looming behind them, glaring questioningly at them. Lucy slowly turned and met her gaze as well. "Oh, well . ."

Natsu interrupted. "We are interested in joining Fairy Tail." Erza's expression softened slightly at the two. "Oh, is that so? What sort of magic do you both use?"

Lucy's large eyes turned to Natsu. _We didn't discuss what magic we use! What if we are forced to use magic in front of everyone. I mean, yeah, I don't plan on staying like this forever, but still. _

Natsu shrugged, unaware of his partner's inner turmoil. "Fire." He turned to glance at Lucy and saw she was glaring daggers at him, before turning and gauging the responses of those around them.

Erza nodded thoughtfully. "That's good, we already have several fire mages so if anything gets out of hand, we know how to extinguish the flames immediately. I'll introduce you to Macao and Romeo in a little bit. We also have Natsu, just a forewarning, he's a dragon slayer and may ask you to fight him. He will probably eat your flames so please don't be alarmed."

Lucy felt her mouth drop open at Erza's laid back explanation. Cana and Gray chuckled at Lucy's response, which she guessed they assumed she was shocked about someone eating fire. _That is something that you don't hear about every day. _Natsu gave a light shrug and agreed to meet with everyone later. Erza turned her attention to Lucy. "And what about you?"

Gray noticed Lucy's discomfort and spoke up, while unbuttoning his shirt. "Erza, c'mon and give a little space, you don't want to scare away the new recruits, do you?"

Natsu raised his eyebrow, "Are you stripping?" Gray looked down at himself as he was in the middle of taking off his shirt.

"Oh, sorry, just a force of habit."

Natsu feigned concern towards the rest of the table. "Will we be forced to strip as being a part of Fairy Tail?" He looked to Lucy, sounding nervous. "I don't want to have to do that! Maybe we should have joined that other guild!"

Erza stomped over behind Gray and wacked him over the head so he tumbled off of the bench. "Gray, you imbecile! You are giving the guild a bad reputation!" She sits in his place and apologetically looks at the guests. "Please, don't let one person's actions push you away from joining our guild. We would never force our guild mates to do such demeaning things."

Cana laughed, throwing her arm around Lucy. "Ha, Erza, it wouldn't be just Gray that have made quite an impact on these two today." Erza gazed at her curiously waiting for her to continue.

Lucy, seeing that this is the perfect distraction to leave the conversation before it comes back to her magic, she looks at Natsu. "Kasai, would you like to look at more of the guild?"

Natsu gave his normal toothy grin, "Sure!" Lucy tried to frown as his normal personality was showing through already, but his smile was contagious even when pretending not to be himself.

Lucy looked around the table. "What sort of amenities does your guild have?"

Cana stuck her hand out and started to list everything lazily. "We have a pool, spa, library, bath house, and an apartment complex for the girls. Honestly the greatest thing here besides the people is the bar, and that's right over there! If you want, I'll walk you over there."

Lucy chuckled lightly. "No thanks, although I would love to walk around and look at everything else. . You said a library?" Even though she's been to their library what feels like a million times, she always finds a book that she's never seen before.

Seeing her eyes shine, Cana laughed. "Yea, it's below. You might run into Levy down there, I think she was doing some research."

Lucy tried to hide her excitement to see the script mage. "Ooohh, Levy, is she nice?"

Natsu let his eyes casually wander around the guild and noticed that the dark corner that recently occupied Gajeel was now empty. His gaze found the iron dragon slayer walking out towards the library. Natsu wasn't surprised, but did see that being a potential problem if Lucy and him decided to go there. He casually stretched his arms, taking in the aroma of the guild hall around him. _I don't smell Laxus in here at the moment, good. If Lucy and I could get a few minutes together, alone, we can go over any new developments. I can tell we didn't go over enough things. _

Erza's voice cut into Natsu's thoughts. "I'm sorry, I don't think that we should allow someone who is not yet a guild mate into our library. Our books carry vast knowledge and we can't risk any of them to go missing. Please, understand and have patience. Once you are a part of the guild, the restriction will be removed. But I would be glad to show you to Fairy Hills. It is a place for the women of Fairy Tail to live." She gave an apologetic look to Natsu, "Sorry but that is for girl's only."

Lucy threw her hands up. "Oh no! That's all right. We are staying at a hotel until we find something."

Cana threw her arm around Lucy again, giving Erza a lecherous look. "How cruel Erza! I can't believe you want to separate these love birds!" Erza blushed and profusely apologized to the 'couple'. Cana snatched the painting out of Lucy's hands and showed the requip mage. "See, aren't they just adorable?! Reedus painted this masterpiece just this morning when he spotted the two on a secluded hillside."

Lucy snatched the painting back, her face almost the same shade as Erza's hair and glared at Cana. "Please stop showing this to everyone!"

Cana shrugged lightly. "Nothing to be embarrassed about."

Lucy felt Natsu shift next to her. "I'm going to order some food, did you want to join me . . Stella?"

Lucy met his eyes, trying to register what would be better, sitting with this table or going near Mira with the painting. She thanked the table for their kindness and followed Natsu.

"Geez, today is one heck of a day. When will the master be back?" He glanced at Lucy as she walked next to him, lost in thought.

"What should I say if they ask about my magic?"

Natsu smiled and grabbed her hand, "Just be honest and only show them the silver ones. I don't think most of the guild knows what your keys look like as much as our team might, so long as you don't call your spirits out here, we will be fine."

Lucy smiled back to Natsu, feeling relieved. They spent the rest of the day, mingling with other guild mates, trying to nonchalantly avoid their own team. Soon the hours whittled away and the duo finally saw the master come in.

Mira smiled warmly to the Makarov. "Welcome back, Master. How was your day?"

Makarov shrugged his shoulders, pulling out his pipe. "I feel like progress is moving slowly." His gaze wandered over his guild. "How has it been here?"

Just as his gaze settled on the two 'new comers', Mira informed him, "Well, there are two people who say they have business with you. They have been waiting here a majority of the day to speak with you." She giggled lightly and said softer. "I heard they want to join the guild."

Makarov nodded absently and walked over to them. He scrutinized over the two, trying to decipher why they look familiar. The girl with the black hair spoke softly, shifting nervously. "Hello sir. . Is it possible for us to speak with you. . alone?" The master nodded and requested them to join him in his office.

Once seated, he watched the two sit awkwardly in front of him. "Well, what did you want to speak to me about?"

The girl looked over at her companion before returning to meet his eyes. He felt that her green eyes looked almost unnatural on her. "Well. . . I was wondering, do you recognize us from anywhere?"

He raised his eyebrow. _Is this a test? _He let his scrutinizing gaze deepen, picking apart everything between the two. The boys blue eyes looked unusual on him. Their faces and expressions were familiar, too familiar even. His focus caught on the boy's neck. _That scar. . . No. . This can't be. ._ His eyes widened as he frantically glanced between the two. It was all coming together now.

He smiled, shaking his head. "How long have you both been at the guild?"

Lucy piped up, "Since before lunch time."

Makarov nodded. "The disguises are great. I knew you were both familiar, but I'm embarrassed to admit that it took a minute to fully recognize you both. Has anyone else recognized you?"

They both shook their heads. Makarov looked at them thoughtfully. "Okay. Well let's go announce who you are to everyone and . ."

"Actually. ." Lucy stopped him, clutching the painting closer to her, "let's wait until tomorrow." She looked over to Natsu. "What do you think?"

Natsu shrugged lightly and glanced back to the master. "So can we go on quests?"

Master sighed and stared at the dragon slayer. "How long do you plan on staying like that?"

Lucy frowned, "Well, how about we travel in disguise, but around town and during the missions we can just stay regular."

Makarov raised his eyebrow. "How are you going to manage that?"

Lucy held out her right wrist to show him the bracelet, and turned a knob, changing her appearance back to regular. She beamed at him. The master looked over and noticed that Natsu was wearing a similar bracelet. "Where did you get those?"

Lucy frowned thinking back. "I think they were my moms. I got them when I was given Cancer's key but was told to not use them until I was older."

Makarov held his hand out and Lucy hesitantly handed it over. "Interesting." He gave Lucy a curious stare. "Do you think I could borrow it and see if we could duplicate these, possibly enhance them to hide the design easier?"

Lucy frowned. "Yea, I guess, maybe after we officially reveal ourselves to the guild. How about we do that tomorrow morning."

Makarov nodded and handed it back to Lucy. She quickly put it back on and turned the same knob as before, changing her hair and eye color once again.

Makarov nodded to himself quietly. "So why don't you just stay like this instead of changing appearances so often."

Natsu and Lucy glanced at each other, "Well, Gramps, ya see. . it feels weird trying to pretend to be someone else so much."

"And. . if we use our abilities in disguise, it will become obvious that it's us and the disguise would be pointless." Lucy added.

Makarov nodded, "I agree, Dragon Slayer magic is pretty noticeable, and celestial wizards are rare as well. Okay, give us a few days to get everything figured out, and you can go on missions again." Natsu turned to Lucy and beamed.

Lucy turned to Makarov, "Master, can you send Happy back to Natsu's house, tell him that you spoke with us earlier and we wanted to talk with him."

The master agreed and the two exited the room. Mira bombarded them upon arriving in the main room of the guildhall. "So…? Are you both members now?"

Lucy smiled brightly, "We are coming back tomorrow, we'll tell you everything then."

They hurried back to Natsu and Happy's little cottage to wait to talk to the blue Exceed.

**Sorry, I was hoping to send you all off with a longer chapter, but unfortunately I'm having difficulty typing in this wrist brace. =( I hope you all are excited, we are close to getting back to some adventures, I'm so pumped about writing some in. Thanks everyone for their patience while I'm on vacation, I'm already excited to get back home to write more, and I haven't even left yet. **

**I love you all and want to thank everyone for the reviews and for everyone who is following and marked this as a favorite story. It really means a lot and seeing that really motivates me to up my game, not only with plot but with how often I update. So thank you. =) **


	21. Chapter 21

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 21**

Happy flew into the cottage and froze, staring at the two strangers. "Oh, aren't you both the new people at the guild, what are you doing here?" He stared curiously at them.

Natsu smiled, "It's me little buddy!" Before Happy could say anything, Natsu turned the small knob on his bracelet and his hair and eyes switched back to normal.

"Woah!" Happy shot over to Natsu and started to pull at his hair. "How'd you do that?" He glanced over to Lucy. "So does this mean that the girl over there is. . ?" Lucy turned her small knob and was instantly back to being the brown eyed blonde. "LUCY!" Happy jumped over to her. "So that was you both at the guild? Why didn't you tell me?" He pouted, "Why am I always being left out?"

"Hey!" Lucy picked up the blue Exceed who had floated sadly to the ground. "We weren't trying to leave you out or anything, it's just we needed to convince everyone that we weren't ourselves."

Happy's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, so you could go on missions?"

Natsu beamed, giving a thumbs up, "YEA! And Gramps has already given us the okay!"

Happy looked between the two thoughtfully, "So when Mira told me that the painting Reedus made was of the two new people. . ." He grinned evilly to Lucy, "that was of you both?"

Lucy felt her face pale. "You. . . saw the painting?"

Happy's devilish smirk stretched across his little face. "Everyone's seen the painting." Lucy avoided looking at Natsu. "You liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiike eachoth…."

Lucy put her hand over Happy's mouth. "Shut it you stupid cat!"

Natsu laughed, "That reminds me, Luce, what are you going to do with the painting?"

She glanced worriedly over to him. "What. . I . . don't know yet."

He picked it up off the couch and examined it. "Hmmm."

Lucy walked over, forgetting that she was still holding the Exceed, and stared thoughtfully at the painting. "I guess take it home to my apartment."

"Where are you going to hang it?" Happy smirked at her. "Next to your bed?"

Lucy frowned at him, trying to hide her blush. "What, no! I'll. . find a spot." She looked outside and sighed. "Well, I guess it's time for me to go. She put Happy back on the floor and started to gather her belongings. "Natsu, where do you want to meet tomorrow morning? I live too close to the guild to meet at my house and someone might notice us."

Natsu glanced at Happy thoughtfully, "Our house should be good."

Lucy nodded and grabbed the painting before heading out towards town.

Happy and Natsu watched their blonde friend make her way down the path. Happy turned to Natsu, mischief clearly plastered on his face. "I bet you were hoping to keep the painting, weren't you?"

Natsu glanced at Happy and shrugged lightly, "It would have been nice to put it on our memory board or something."

Happy raised his eyebrow before heading back towards the house. "So Natsu. . What happened to the hammock?"

Natsu frowned, turning back to the blue Exceed. "You know. . just the usual."

Happy frowned in response, "Hmmm. What happened to the house?"

Natsu followed him in. "What do you mean?"

"It doesn't smell like home, and it's clean. OH!" His eyes widened with excitement. "THE CLEANING GODS!" Happy flew around the room with enthusiasm. "Natsu! I told you praying to the Cleaning God would help!"

Natsu laughed, deciding not to spoil the excitement with the disappointing truth. "Yea, we should try to maintain it still since that helped." Natsu grabbed some rope and started to tie a new hammock.

Happy watched Natsu, "You're becoming an expert and tying those." Natsu shot him a dirty look, warning him to stop there. The little blue Exceed shrugged and walked off towards the kitchen to see what the fridge held.

Lucy called out Plue once she arrived in town and she walked at a faster pace than usual. "Okay Plue, let's hurry home today." She clutched the painting closer to herself. "I don't want anyone to see that I have this painting."

"Puun Puuuuuun!"

She smiled down at the small, white Celestial Spirit that was scurrying next to her feet, matching her pace. Once home, Lucy dropped everything on the couch and summoned Capricorn for a short magical training exercise before taking a long bath. She caught herself staring at the blank wall, deep in thought about the past several weeks and how rapidly everything has changed. She let out a long sigh and sank deeper in the tub. _Hmm, the painting might look good there on the wall._ She felt her cheeks flush remembering waking up on the hill with Natsu and giggled to herself at the irony of Reedus painting that.

Lucy put on pajamas and stretched before climbing into bed. "Plue, would you like to stay out all night with me?"

"Puun Puuun!" The little white spirit raised his paw in enthusiasm. She smiled and placed him next to her before staring out the window.

Natsu groaned as he headed into the forest so early in the morning. The only way he could convince Happy to stop poking fun at him was to promise to bring back some freshly caught fish and let Happy eat his own raw. He caught himself grumbling as he looked at the sun. _Should be too early still for Lucy to head over still, at least there's that. _He finally arrived to the river and scanned it skillfully. He jumped in, throwing 3 large fish out onto the shore. _There! That only took a little bit of time. _

He piled the fish over his shoulder and trekked the familiar path back to the cottage.

Lucy was proud of herself, even though she tended to be on time, she would never consider herself an early riser on normal days. She joyously knocked on Natsu and Happy

Happy answered the door with disappointment. "Oh, it's you."

"Gee, thanks Happy!" Lucy spit out sarcastically. She slowly walked into the house. "Where's Natsu?"

"Oh he's catching me fish." Happy bragged walking towards the kitchen.

Lucy nodded and looked around the room, eyes falling on the hammock. "Is that a new hammock?"

Happy gave Lucy a questioning stare. "Yes."

"Oh did he make it?"

"Yes."

Lucy glanced out the window. "Hey Happy I have a question for you." She turned around and walked over to him, kneeling so she could be closer to his level. "How often does he burn through his hammocks?" She watched some kind of inner turmoil bubble through Happy and that answered her question well enough. She stood up, pretending to brush off some imaginary dirt off of her dark jean capri pants. "I was just wondering since the other night he burned through one and. . . and he's never burned through my bed sheets at all."

Happy chuckled, "Well of course not."

_Am I missing something? _"Well I don't see the difference of why he doesn't burn my bed but he burns his."

Happy stared at Lucy perplexed. "Do you want him to burn your bed, because I'm sure if you just ask him he'd be willing to burn it for you while he's awake. It'd be a waste though, such a nice bed."

Lucy sighed. "No, I don't want him to burn my sheets. . or bed. I was just worried, is all." She furrowed her brows. "Happy, do you know why he burns through it?"

Happy shifted on his feet nervously. "Nightmares, I suppose."

Lucy wasn't quite expecting that answer. "Oh."

The door slams opens and Natsu strolls in with several large fish over his shoulder. "Happy, I'm back. Oh, hey Luce!" He sniffed the air. "Did you use the odor eating lacrima already? I didn't smell you when I approached the house."

Lucy rolled her eyes, a smile sneaking it's way on her lips. "Good morning to you too."

Happy flew into the air. "NATSU! Lucy was just telling me that she wants you to set her bed on fire!"

Lucy glared at the flying blue cat! "WHAT?! NO!"

Natsu turned to Lucy, serious expression evident. "Lucy! We can't burn the bed! It's our favorite thing in your apartment."

"AYE!

Lucy huffed out, "Gee, thanks."

Happy smirked evilly to Lucy and she gave him a death glare, hinting not to mention the hammock conversation.

Soon Natsu had 2 large fish grilled and gave Happy his raw fish. Once everyone's appetite was sated, Happy headed out towards the guild, promising to not give away their identity until they were ready. Natsu changed into an outfit that Virgo left for him, making sure to not match with Lucy's sky blue shirt and white pants.

They changed their hair and eye colors and headed towards the guild, taking their time in the park to widen the time frame from when Happy arrived. Once they arrived at the guild, they were pleased to see that a majority of the members were there.

"Good morning Kasai, Stella!" Mira greeted them cheerfully.

"Good morning Mira!" Lucy beamed at the white haired bartender. Natsu gave a quite greeting, trying to sniff the guild hall unnoticeably. _All of our Dragon Slayers are here._

After several hours of mingling, the master strolls in and scanned the room; his eyes fall on Natsu and Lucy. He pulled Freed aside and they were out of the room for a while. Once they both returned, the master stood on the stage. "May I have everyone's attention please?" Everyone quieted down immediately. "I would like you all to meet Kasai and Stella." Lucy and Natsu stand up, awkwardly waved to the room. "Fairy Tail mages." Everyone let out a hearty cheer. The master smirked, "Can the both of you show your marks before changing?"

Everyone quieted their enthusiastic cheering to a low whisper of confusion. Lucy took off her glove and help up her pink marked hand while Natsu rolled up his sleeve revealing his red mark on his shoulder. The confusion stretched on as the two both held out their bracelets to everyone before turning the dials. Soon the two 'newcomers' were their familiar guild mates. A majority of the guild's jaws dropped in surprise. Mira let out a loud squeal of excitement while Erza glowered at the two for the deception. After a very short time of silence, the room changed into a flurry of excitement. Everyone rushed Natsu and Lucy, demanding to know what happened and how they did that.

Makarov cleared his throat again, gaining everyone's attention. "We have much to discuss as a guild and I am pleased to say that we have almost everyone here. I had Freed place a barrier over the entire building that would push any non-guild member out and keep out anyone who wasn't in our guild."

The master debriefed everyone on the group called the Dragon Demolishers and how he had forbidden any of the dragon slayers from going on missions. The master let out a long sigh. "Well, you know how Natsu took it, he found a loophole." Several members chuckled and glanced at the pink haired dragon slayer who was sitting with his hands interlocked behind his head, a large lopsided grin across his face.

Gajeel stood up. "So, you tellin' me that if I can get one of those bracelets to change my looks, I can go on missions?!"

Makarov stared around the room thoughtfully. "It would have to be convincing."

Gajeel smiled wickedly. "I'll show you convincin'." He turned to Natsu. "Oi! Flame Brain! Give me that bracelet!"

Natsu huffed, holding his wrist with the bracelet in his other hand protectively. "NO!"

Gajeel growled, launching himself across the room, aiming for Natsu. Natsu leapt out of the way in time for Gajeel's hit to land on a very irate red head. Soon a fight broke out between several different tables. Makarov growled in frustration.

The room lite up with lightning bolts, hitting everyone involved in the brawl. "Thank you Laxus." The master smiled gratefully at his grandson.

He shrugged lightly. "I just want to hear more about how I can go on missions again."

"Levy, Freed, I was hoping I could ask you both to work on duplicating those bracelets."

Levy, who was already at Lucy's side observing the bracelet on her wrist gave a joyous thumbs up while Freed walked in their direction. He gave a slight bow of his head to the master to acknowledge the request.

Natsu frowned. "How long will that take?"

Freed held up Lucy's bracelet in observation, eyes still glued with curiosity to the device. "That would depend on the complexity of these." He turned to Levy. "Would you like to get started tonight on this or wait until tomorrow."

Before she could even answer, Gajeel and Natsu walked over. "Now!"

Levy sighed, "I guess it couldn't hurt to get started today." She turned to Natsu. "Can I have your bracelet as well? It will help the process speed up."

Natsu grumbled, taking off his own and handing it over to the small script mage.

Natsu tossed himself into the chair next to Lucy. "I wanna go on a mission. This is no fair!"

Lucy frowned in thought. "Well, I did promise Happy a fishing day, let's go do that. The day is still young."

He stared thoughtfully over to her before turning and finding Happy across the room "HAPPY! Hurry up! We're going fishing with Lucy!"

"AYE!"


	22. Chapter 22

**I want to start off by apologizing for not leaving any author notes on this story last week. I was so excited to be back from vacation and finally be able to update the story that I totally spaced. I want to thank all of the people who reviewed recently. **

OgaxHilda

Original1

kisstheskyx

Extreme399

crbrgmi

**Thank you all for reviewing, seeing review really motivates me to keep this frequent and puts a small flame under my inner muse's butt to get focused and think. I usually try to respond to each review with a personal message, I know with my vacation I just had that it was confusing on who I already responded to, so I apologize if I missed any. **

**Without further ado, here is the latest chapter. **

* * *

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 22**

Lucy and Natsu had finally arrived in the town of Hargeon. Lucy frowned at the darkening sky. "Natsu, why did we have to walk here? The train ride would have been so much faster."

Natsu turned and gave her a playful smile. "Oh, C'mon Luce! Cheer up! We made it!"

Staring at his joyous face, she couldn't hold back the giggle that managed to escape. "Yea yea! Okay. So did you want to go meet with the client tonight or stay in a hotel and meet with them tomorrow?"

Natsu frowned at her, clearly torn. This was not only going to be their first mission in several weeks, but together in the past month. With everything that has happened from their argument and going on separate missions, then that incident happened and he was forbidden to go out and work on missions until Lucy used her bracelets to help disguise them. The master was so impressed he had them stay longer, about another week, while Levy and Freed worked on duplicating them.

They were able to create a prototype and gave Lucy and Natsu their bracelets back since a certain pink haired dragon slayer refused to leave the guild until it was completed. Once the bracelet touched his palm, he dragged Lucy to the board and picked out the first job he saw. A simple job in the nearby city of Hargeon, the city that Natsu first met Lucy.

Since they were in disguise while traveling, they had to leave Happy at the guild and went by themselves. Natsu, vowing that since it was the first mission together in so long, they should walk instead of taking transportation and Lucy, without putting much thought into the decision, blindly agreed.

Lucy started to head towards the nearest hotel until Natsu stopped her. "Why don't we just stay out in the woods tonight?"

Lucy stared at him thoughtfully. "Well, although I normally wouldn't mind too much since it's so much cheaper, I think it would be too dangerous with everything that's happened."

Natsu frowned, dragging his feet, following the disguised Lucy to the hotel. After checking 3 different hotels, Lucy finally found one that had a vacant room. Lucy walked into the room and slumped across the bed with a long sigh. Natsu dropped his belongings next to the door and stretched. "Well, I'm hungry!"

Lucy stared at him thoughtfully and sat up. "Can't we just rest for a few minutes before we go get food?"

Natsu frowned at her. "LUCCCCCYYYYY," he whined, "but I'm hungry." He threw himself next to her so she bounced on the bed.

"Fine." She switched the dial on the bracelet and soon the green eyes turned back to brown, the black hair to blonde. She leaned over Natsu and switched his dial and she watched the brown hair slowly change back to that familiar salmon pink color, and she stared as the blue faded into his normal olive green eyes. She caught herself staring longer than intended and smiled awkwardly as she stepped away and started to look through her luggage, trying to keep herself occupied.

Natsu sat up, eyeing Lucy curiously before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his treasured, white scarf. He grabbed the edge and whipped it in the air, letting it unfurl itself before wrapping it around his neck. Lucy glanced over her shoulder and smiled at him. "Okay, let's go eat."

"Why did we change our appearances before we eat rather than when we meet with the client tomorrow?"

Lucy raised her eyebrow. "Your eating habits and destructive nature, I don't want it to be known before we finish a quest that we are using disguises. At least travel wise and where we are staying is slightly safer at the moment."

Natsu huffed at the insults, and laid across the bed, hands behind his head. "So, are we leaving?"

"Lucy couldn't help but smile at his familiar antics. "Yeah."

* * *

The next day, Lucy and Natsu made their way to the mayor's office. He was a tall, thin, balding man with snow white hair and a kind smile. He explained that his granddaughter went missing the week before and the authorities haven't made any progress in locating her. He handed a small picture over to Lucy of a petite little girl, around 6 years old, with long brown curls and bright purple eyes. He reluctantly handed over a small doll to Natsu after the fire mage requested something close to the child they could use for it's scent. If the man was taken aback by the dragon slayer's dog like sniffing of the object.

Lucy trailed behind Natsu as they made their way into the forest outside of town and started to travel south towards the mountains. She tried to stay alert, hand hovering over her whip and keys. Natsu noticed her jumping at every small sound and clenched his jaw. "Lucy, relax, we are on a small, basic mission." He gave her a reassuring smile.

She gave him an unconvinced glance before slowly watching their surroundings. "Well, when you were captured, that was supposed to be a small, simple mission and look what happened."

He put his hands behind his head, giving her a thoughtful frown. "Nothing's going to happen, we are going to save this little girl, that's all."

Lucy sighed, and looked down to the ground, watching her boot crush the leaves on the forest floor. "I can't help but worry." She looked back and met his gaze, smiling softly.

His frown twitched into a boyish grin before his face became focused; he sniffed the air cautiously. "The smell is getting stronger this way." He made a sharp left and quickened his pace; soon he was in a slow jog with Lucy trailing behind, starting to pant lightly. Lucy ran right into Natsu's back at his abrupt halt, causing the two to fall forward. Lucy apologized quickly, jumping off of him. She looked around, her breath caught in her throat.

They were standing at the edge of a large canyon; Lucy stepped closer to the edge to peer at it's incredible depth. She gulped, nervously when she spotted the violent river at the bottom. Lucy felt herself lose balance when a strong gust of wind slapped against her. She teetered on one foot, arms flailing, until Natsu abruptly wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her away from the edge.

"Geez Lucy, what do you think you're doing? You're going to fall if you keep that up!"

She felt a blush creep it's way onto her cheeks as she wiggled away from him. "Sorry, I just wanted to see how far down the drop was."

Natsu curiously took a step and glanced down, giving a low whistle. He glanced back at her with a toothy grin, "Alright, let's go look for this little girl!"

She followed him as he walked along the edge, sniffing the air periodically. Lucy walked closer to the forest 's edge, tying her hair into a tight ponytail to keep it from whipping her face from the breeze. "Lucy!" She looked over to Natsu who was waving over. "There's a path that leads down."

"Great." She mumbled as she made her way to the edge. Small steps seemed to be formed along the edge leading down into the canyon. "Do we really need to go this way?"

Natsu tested the air with his nose before nodding. "Yep, smells like she went this way yesterday, not alone either." He looked over to her anxious face with a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Lucy, we won't fall."

She gritted her teeth and followed him down the steps; after almost falling twice, she kept a hand on his steady shoulder until they reached the bottom. They made their way along the river bank; both of them eyed the river warily. After nearly half an hour of hiking the rocky trail, a stone bridge was spotted ahead. Natsu bound across the bridge without a second thought, leaving Lucy hesitantly watching from behind. "Are you sure this bridge is safe Natsu?"

He turned, stopping halfway across and gave her a puzzled look. "Yea, seems sturdy enough to me." He gave a quick jump on the bridge and landed with a smile. She watched and cautiously crossed the bridge, holding onto the stone railing with her life. She hesitantly looked over the edge of the bridge and felt herself gulp. The water raged in the river under the bridge, thrashing against the rocks along the bank.

When Lucy finally made it to the other side of the bank, she crumbled to her knees. Natsu sat on a rock nearby watching her with interest, "You okay?"

She slowly took a deep breath before turning to him. "Yea, that bridge just doesn't look too sturdy." Natsu rested his head in his hand and patiently watched her stand up and walk towards him. "So where next?"

He took a deep breath in, letting the scent of the young girl show him the path. He nodded to his right, "I suppose that way." Lucy followed the direction with her eyes, responding with a light hum. Natsu slipped off the rock and gave Lucy a boyish grin. "Well, let's go!"

She gave him a small smile back before following his quick pace. The smell of the young girl grew stronger with each step they took. Soon, Natsu stopped outside of a large cave opening; he took another deep breath, "This is it!"

Lucy stared at the cave opening thoughtfully, "Okay, Natsu, I think we need a plan of. .NATSU!" She fumed as he charged into the cave, his usual reckless grin painted across his face. Lucy quickly followed her pink haired companion.

Natsu finally stopped and scanned the darkness around him; he could faintly make out voices what sounded like a fair distance away. Lucy unexpectedly collided with his back, causing her to tumble and land on her bottom behind him. He apologetically eyed the dark figure he could make out as Lucy. "Sorry." He bashfully said, scratching the back of his head.

She fumed in the dark, standing up and glared in the direction of Natsu's voice. "Well if you could at least light up the cave a little, I could actually see and wouldn't have ran into you!" She quietly ranted, crossing her arms in an exasperated huff.

Natsu sighed and looked around cautiously before lighting a small flame at the end of his index finger. "I didn't want them to know where we were, sorry."

She bit her bottom lip and looked sadly at the flame. "Well I can't see in the dark."

Natsu frowned thoughtfully, staring at the blonde celestial mage. "OH!" He grabbed her wrist energetically and snuffed out his light, dragging her behind him. "This better?"

She readjusted her hand in his so she could return a firm hold before smiling. "Yea."

They made their way through the maze of a cave, Natsu helping Lucy around the obstacles with only a few trips and falls, and one complete face first walk into a wall. Natsu swiftly crouched, pulling Lucy down with him. She opened her mouth to speak but felt a warm hand cover it. She felt his warm breath on her cheek, his soft whisper was barely audible in her ears past the loud drumming of her heart. "Lucy. . Stay still, they are right in front of us."

She gave a small nod with her head, acknowledging that she heard. She felt his hand leave her face and hoped his gaze had as well; she wasn't sure how good his night sight was, but she could feel her cheeks flushed. His hand squeezed hers and she wondered if he even realized that he did that. She looked in his direction, focusing on his dark form. Giving up, she turned her attention to whatever lay ahead.

After several minutes, she heard something shift directly in front of her and it took all of her willpower to hold back a squeal of surprise. She felt Natsu's grip tighten and his body heat radiating stronger, so she assumed he leaned closer. She leaned to the left ever so slightly and sure enough, her shoulder touched his.

More sounds from in front of her pulled her from her thoughts and reminded her of the severity of her location. She saw something flicker and suddenly felt Natsu pull her closer to the ground in a panicked rush.

The cavern illuminated and Lucy's eyes grew wide with the realization of their proximity. She met his olive green eyes before he leaned up to take a peak over the pile of bags they were laying behind. He motioned for her to sit up as well. Lucy slowly pulled herself into a crouch and let a small gasp escape as she looked over the bags.

**I know I left this as a cliff hanger, I will update again in a week. **

**I was wondering if you would all like other points of view besides Lucy and Natsu, like other guild mates. I know I did a chapter in Erza's and a brief part in Gray's earlier in the story. Let me know what you think, I won't tell you who I have in mind, but I have a few chapters swimming in my head of other characters. **

**I'm also updating my other story 'A New World' tonight. **


	23. Chapter 23

**I want to give a shout out thank you to those that reviewed recently, thank you for the reviews, they really push me to write faster and makes me feel so appreciated, I really think it helps the creative juices to flow.**

Original1

kisstheskyx

Extreme399

crbrgmi

**Thank you to all of those that have started following or added this story or me as a favorite. **

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 23**

Three large cat people were standing in a small campsite, glaring at each other. Lucy and Natsu could tell instantly that they weren't Exceeds. These creatures were large, humanoid in shape if it weren't for their feet and hands being paws. Their heads were similar to the Exceeds; however, they reminded Lucy more of the regular domestic cats that can't typically speak rather than the chattering race that came from Edolas. These cat people were fully clothed, minus their shoes; their tails stuck out from the back of their pants, elegantly swishing behind them.

One of them was a tan, almost orange shade, with white patches across it's fur and had bright green eyes. It wore black pants and a loose fitted red and black striped shirt. The second cat Lucy noticed reminded her of a short haired Siamese cat with intelligent blue eyes, she wore a navy blue shirt and pants that almost blended into the darkness. The third cat Lucy saw had longer fur that the other two, white with black on the paws and just on the tips of the ears and tail. Her dark brown eyes were close to the same shade pants she wore with a pink shirt.

Lucy was surprised when the orange cat woman hissed before snarling out, "Why did you light the fire? I thought we agreed to stay in the dark until 'He' comes?"

The Siamese cat lady held her head high, scanning the surroundings, leaving Natsu and Lucy no other option than to duck back behind the pile of bags. "I thought I heard something." The elegant voice declared loudly.

Lucy held her breath as she heard the other two sniffing the air, panic ran through her body, she turned and looked at Natsu, surprised that he was staring at her. She returned the stare for a few moments before realizing that although he was looking in her direction, he wasn't focused on her. _He must be focused on the conversation. _

"I don't smell anything!" Soft padded steps could be heard crossing over camp, coming near Lucy; her eyes widened with worry. Natsu grabbed her hand, reassurance filled in his gaze. Lucy heard a bag nearby being opened and a stifled yawn before the bag being zipped closed. The steps faded away and someone sitting down could be heard.

"How much longer until Erin returns?" A third voice whines.

Natsu crept up, cautiously peering over the packs. He frowned. _The scent of the girl is gone, but these are obviously the ones that took her. Where can she be? I want jump out and attack. . but. . _He glanced down to Lucy who was quietly digging through her own bag. _Lucy's really been on edge this quest, I don't want to make it worse. _He took another long inhale before it dawned on him. _There's another smell missing. _His eyes scanned the campsite and sure enough, a 4th sleeping bag lay empty. Natsu ground his teeth. _Great, how did I not notice that earlier. _He jumped slightly as he felt something touch his head. Ducking down and glancing quickly to Lucy, he smiled. She was pulling a black cap over her hair, hiding her blonde hair. He pulled the lid of his own hat to confirm that his matched her hat's shade.

Natsu could hear whimpering in the distance, a young girl by the sounds of it. He peeked over the edge and watched, motioning for Lucy to do so as well.

The fourth cat (what Lucy would call a Tabby Cat Person, fur was brown with dark stripes and topaz eyes) stalked into the campsite, dragging the little girl from the picture. She threw the girl in the campsite before glaring at the others. "We brought the wrong girl, again!"

"How can that be? She looks just like the girl in our photo!" The white cat demanded, holding up a small picture.

The tabby cat ripped the photo from the other before ripping it in half. "That photo is over ten years old. Humans age differently than us, she would be an adult by now." Her angered stare turned on the little girl. "Not some little brat like this."

The girl sat up slowly. "Can I please go home now?" The cats all stared at her, frustration and rage pouring out of them. The girl bit her lip before stammering on, "Please. . Since you don't need me. . ?"

The tabby cat stalked over and grabbed the girl, lifting her by the front of her collar to bring her close to her eye level. A terrified shudder ran through the girl and the cat woman hissed, baring her white fangs ferociously. "You've seen too much."

She tossed the girl at the orange/tan cat woman. "Take care of the girl." She walked towards her sleeping pack and started to pack her belonging.

The white cat shifted uncomfortably, "How should we take care of her?"

The tabby cat snapped around angrily, "I don't care, throw her in the river for all I care. We need to leave this spot now." Her eyes darted to the others. "The hell hounds are on the move again."

Gasps could be heard over the sobs of the small girl. The white cat went over and shushed her quietly, sadly looking down. "Erin, we can't just toss her in that river, she'll die. We can't let another one. ."

"What about us?!" The tabby cat turned, tears streaming down her face, leaving a wet trail in her fur. "Where are we to go?"

The orange cat stood and grabbed the girl, hoarsely stating, "I'll take care of her." The girl frantically held onto the white cat, her cries and pleas louder.

Lucy bit on her bottom lip and glanced worriedly to Natsu. His expression was focused, taking in every detail. Lucy returned her gaze to the cat women and could only think of one word. _Desperate._

"Leave the girl alone." Lucy stood glaring at them threateningly. All of the cats' eyes were wide, surprise evident on their faces.

The Siamese cat turned to the orange cat. "I told you I heard something." A smirk appeared, showing her sharp fangs.

The tabby cat turned, "Shut it Tenikou, now is not the time."

Natsu stood, still carefully watching their foes. Their eyes flickered to him before looking back to Lucy. The white haired cat stood protectively in front of the girl. Lucy's hand hovered over her keys and whip, ready to attack. "Give us the girl."

The tabby cat named Erin narrowed her eyes. "I think it's in her best interest that we don't."

Lucy felt her teeth grind in frustration. "How would throwing her in the river be better for her?"

The Siamese cat's eyes flickered to their guild marks. "Erin, they are part of a guild." The tabby cat didn't acknowledge the statement; the Siamese cat leaned over more with a serious expression. "A wizard guild." The tabby cat's ear flicked and an intrigued smile crept across her face.

Natsu shifted, preparing for the impending fight; he could tell the tabby cat was ready to make her move soon.

The tabby cat turned to the orange cat, "Reina, you know what to do!"

The orange cat smirked, putting her paws together before slamming them on the ground; Lucy felt the ground beneath her shift. Looking down, she watched in horror as the earth below her came to life, forming into a snake, wrapping itself around her legs. Natsu slammed his fist against the serpent rock reducing it to rubble. A frustrated yowl escaped the orange cat; she put her paws together again closing her eyes to focus.

Natsu turned to Lucy, "Grab the girl and run back the way we came, I'll be right behind you."

Frowning, Lucy opened her mouth to counter him only to be pushed by the dragon slayer as a large slab of rock fell from above. Lucy pulled out one of her golden zodiac keys. "Open gate of the bull, Taurus!"

"What can I doOOOOoooo for you Miss Lucy?"

The blonde stared at her opponents carefully. Help Natsu distract them, I need to get that girl."

The white cat stood protectively in front of the small child, her fangs barring aggressively. The Siamese cat had a long sword pointed in Natsu's direction, her smile challenging; the tabby cat was packing the camp hastily, keeping an overall eye on the fight. Lucy felt the floor below her lift and she quickly jumped off, once again on stable ground. She turned, facing the orange cat. "Open gate of the lion, Leo!"

Loke appeared, causing all of the cats to stop and look in his direction momentarily. That was the moment Lucy was waiting for. She sprinted towards the white cat and gave her a Lucy kick which successfully knocked her out. She scooped up the little girl and dashed towards the exit.

The orange cat turned to Lucy, eyes flashing dangerously. "YOU BITCH!" She put her hands together, and was stopped before she could slam them down. She stared up into the dazzling hazel eyes of the orange haired man whose hair was formed like cat ears. She jumped back, breaking out of his grasp. He raised his eyebrow and gave her a dazzling smile. The tabby cat pulled her back and fiercely demanded that she follow the blonde woman before turning to confront the celestial spirit.

Natsu leapt away from another slash of the sword. This cat woman person thing, whatever she is, she's fast. He ignited his fist, temporarily surprising his opponent; he took that brief hesitation to his advantage and landed a punch across her shoulder, burning a hole through her shirt and singing her fur. He gave a quick glance and noticed that Lucy had left with the small girl. Taurus was fighting with the white cat and Loke was fighting. . the tabby cat! Where is the orange cat? His opponent smirked as her sword made contact with his arm. He leapt back, holding his wound with a pained grunt; he felt blood seeping through his fingers. Lucy, I hope you're going to be okay.

Lucy finally made it out of the cave, grimacing when she saw how the sky was darkening. She readjusted the girl in her arms before sprinting down the path. Gritting her teeth, she mentally slapped herself. How could I just abandon Natsu back there? I know I left him with two of my spirits, but still. She couldn't decide if she was happy when she spotted the bridge ahead of her; she still felt uncomfortable crossing it. Stopping in front of the bridge, she panted, regaining her breath. She quickly glanced behind her and squealed with surprise. _Crap! The orange cat woman is close._ Lucy clenched her jaw as she ran across the bridge.

The orange cat clasped her paws and threw herself down onto the ground, she watched as the bridge before her crumbled. Lucy let out a strangled shriek and she crashed into the water. She tightened her grip on the small child, pumping her feet so she could break the surface of the water. She took in a quick gasp of air before being forced back below the surface.

Back in the cave, Loke and Taurus exchanged worried glances when they felt that pull on their magical connection with their celestial spirit mage. The white cat smiled, taking advantage of the bull's distraction and hit him in the chest with an electric blast, causing him to poof back to the celestial world.

Natsu ground his teeth in frustration as the white cat turned and faced him, a pleased smirk across her mouth showing her sharp fangs. The Siamese cat scowled at her comrade, "I was hoping to fight him one on one."

The white cat responded, raising her eyebrow, "Well you shouldn't have taken so long."

Loke ground his teeth in frustration; he was enjoying himself, toying with these cat people, fighting flirtatiously, until he felt his connection with Lucy become strained. _Dammit! I should have insisted to fight them both, buy Lucy a bit more time. _He growled, giving a hard Regulus punch to her gut before sprinting the direction Lucy left. "Natsu! I'm going to help Lucy!"

Natsu felt his heart strain at hearing the panic in Loke's voice. Is Lucy okay? He stared at the two opponents in front of him and he felt the fire inside of him bubble over. What if Lucy needs my help too? I need to finish these two off now.

Natsu jumped at the white cat, throwing a flaming punch which she dodged easily and countered by shooting electricity out of her mouth. Natsu managed to avoid getting hit and glanced at the other cat. The Siamese cat was turned away with her ears perked, sniffing the air. "We need to leave. They are here." She turned abruptly. "Silvia, grab everything that you can, we need to leave now!"

The white cat's eyes grew wide; she sniffed the air before giving Natsu a wary glance before rushing to their supplies. Natsu scratched his head, confusion overcoming him. "Who's coming?"

The Siamese cat glared at him. "Hell hounds."

Natsu sniffed the air, the faint scent of canine was flittering in the air. He turned to face them, "Well we are taking the girl."

The Siamese cat sighed before once again staring at him. "I understand you want to save her, but she isn't safe right now. We were looking for a certain mage before the hell hounds could get them, it turns out that she isn't the right one."

The white haired cat woman stopped packing and gave Natsu a sad expression. "The hell hounds will torture and devour those that they think might be that mage."

The Siamese cat nodded slowly, "Her dying in the river would be a favor compared to what others have endured at the hands of those monsters." Tears streamed down the white cat's face as she clasped a paw over her mouth holding back a soft sob.

Natsu growled out, "Well it doesn't mean that she would die for sure."

The Siamese cat zipped her bag before starting on the next. "Unfortunately it does. No matter how well we try to hid and protect them, the hell hounds always win." She stared at Natsu grimly, "There used to be twelve of us warrior cats, now there are only four." Natsu's eyes widened with understanding and sympathy, the cat continued to stuff items into the bags. "We have to find prophet." Natsu glanced behind him, a feeling of unease looming. The Siamese cat stared into the direction as well. "Go, your friend is probably in danger. I'm sorry it is our fault, I have a feeling we will meet again."

Natsu gave them a last hard look before tearing off into the direction where he last saw Loke.

* * *

Lucy could feel the current around her picking up and thrashing her around more and more. She held the child up above her head as much as possible to keep air in the little lungs, only going up herself when she felt like her lungs were going to tear out of her chest. She tried to grab her keys at her waist, but she almost dropped them twice already. She felt her body crash against a rock and the air escaped from her mouth, water rushing to take it's place. Before she could manage a grip on the rock, the current pulled her away only to be thrown against another. Normally she loved seeing stars, but in this circumstance she felt the danger in her throbbing head. She opened her eyes under water and saw the next large rock she was rushing towards. She kicked her feet, propelling her and the child onto the rock with pant. She held onto the large rock with one hand, pushing the small girl up with her other. She gasped the air hungrily, and smiled seeing the girl still had enough strength to pull herself farther up.

As everything around her started to fade into blackness, she felt her grip lessen until she wasn't holding onto anything. Everything felt white as she felt her body crash into another rock, the current then deciding to pull her body under water. Water rushed into her open mouth taking refuge into her burning lungs, trying to put out her burning sensation but only making the burn deepen. Again she could see stars, practically feel them around her. She felt her hand go to her waist on it's own, pulling out a key. She thought of her oldest friend, her closest spirit that she knew since she was a child. Aquarius. She could practically hear the chiming now that summoned her, see the blue haired mermaid swim gracefully towards her. She could almost feel those arms that carried her as a child carry her again, this time out of the water and onto the shore. She swore she could almost hear the voice yelling at her to wake up, but Lucy knew that it couldn't be so. She felt her back come in contact with a hard rough surface.

* * *

Loke rushed along the river edge, following his mage's footprints. He thanked the stars that came out early tonight to shine his way through the dark evening. He stopped where the footprints turned before ending on a stone. He stared at the stone questioningly before scanning the area, his heart almost breaking feeling his connection with Lucy growing ever weaker. "LUCY!"

The tabby cat slowed behind him, staring at the water. "The bridge is out."

Loke turned. "What?"

She pointed to the bank on the other side of the raging river. "The bridge."

Loke followed her direction, heart dropping at seeing the crumbled end of a bridge. He stared down at the footprints below him, panic overtaking him. He was pulled out of his inner turmoil as the orange cat sprinted towards them. "Erin, the hell hounds, they are here!"

Loke turned, anger taking over. "What did you do to the bridge?!"

Her eyes grew large as she cowered under the fierce lion's gaze; she let out a soft whimper. The tabby cat pushed him so he would let go of her friend. The orange cat stumbled back, her face set in fear. "I'm sorry." She pointed farther down the river. "Last I saw they grabbed onto a rock before I spotted the demon hounds."

The tabby cat stared in the direction. "Which side of the bank?"

"The other side."

The tabby cat nodded before turning to Loke. "Look, whatever you do, stay away from them, they are after the little girl."

The cats left, leaving the celestial spirit. He glanced back at the water where the bridge one stood before rushing in Lucy's direction. He ran along the bank, watching the water thrash against rocks. His heart twisted as he felt a pull towards the spirit world, beckoning to him to return. He soon spotted a young girl on a rock screaming at the water. _No. No. NO. LUCY!_ He kept moving, letting his feet take him farther along the bank. _Lucy, our contract can't be up yet! I will find you and save you! _

The two cats shrieked as an enraged dragon slayer leapt from the cave entrance and demanded to know where his friend was. They pointed in Lucy's direction before rushing into the cave. Natsu was even more terrified now since both cats were leaving unharmed. He followed Loke's scent, stopping only momentarily at the fallen bridge before continuing. He heard crying and spotted the little girl sitting on a rock in the water crying. He leaped over a few other rocks before gracefully landing next to the girl. He scooped her up and jumped back the way he came.

"Shesavedmebutbutthecurrenttookheraway!" The girl rushed out her explanation before sobbing into Natsu's shoulder. He stared perplexed, dissecting the words. _current took her away_.

Natsu swiftly continued his trek along the bank, staring at the water, eyes unwavering. He stopped at hearing Loke's voice. "LUCY! Please!" The image before Natsu crushed him.

Loke was doing chest compressions to the blonde before tilting her head back and breathing into her mouth. Natsu set down the girl before rushing over to the spirit. Aquarius glared at him with her blue eyes, before turning worriedly back to Lucy. "I pulled out the water from her lungs, but she still wasn't breathing." Natsu felt his lips quiver as he fell to his knees on her other side. Loke didn't acknowledge his presence but Natsu could tell the lion spirit knew he was there.

Lucy suddenly gasped for breath, rolling over to her side with a strangled cough. They all jumped and leaned forward, Natsu and Loke bumping heads. Lucy's vision was hazy, but she could make out four faces. Aquarius, Loke, Natsu. . . and. .

**Okay so I just want to say I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I've actually have been obsessing over this week more than usual, and I am excited. Truth be told, I almost ended this chapter in another cliffhanger, but I kept writing feeling bad doing two big cliffhangers in a row. I love you all and thank you for the continued support! **


	24. Chapter 24

**I want to give a big thank you shout out for everyone out there that reviewed.**

_crbrgmi_

_Extreme399_

_Original1_

_SnowyHaven_

**I also want to thank everyone for adding this as a favorite or following this story.**

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 24**

Gajeel groaned, slamming his head once again on the table. Panther Lily stared at him with an eyebrow raised questioningly. "What is it now?"

He shifted his head and let his red eyes glare at his friend. "I'm just waiting for that flaming idiot to get back. Shrimp said that the devices have glitches and I'm ready to get out of here."

Panther Lily let out a sigh before picking up his small glass and stared into it thoughtfully. "Have you offered to help her?"

Gajeel scoffed and turned away; he let his eyes wander over the guild, taking in everything. _That doofus is dancing, she's downing another barrel, those two are checking out dirty magazines, she is staring at the kitchen doors probably waiting for some cake. _His gaze softened when it roamed over the small, blue haired dragon slayer and her white Exceed. After lingering, he let his eyes continue, falling on a certain blue haired water mage, one of his oldest friends. He let out a disturbed sigh, catching Panther Lily's attention once again. "What is it now?"

"What does she see in him?" Panther Lily followed his gaze, giving a slow, understanding nod. "She deserves better than some lame ice freak who doesn't appreciate her." He ignored Panther Lily's chuckle and continued to brood over one of his oldest friends. Gajeel felt the urge to get up and punch that dark haired punk in the nose to knock some sense into him, or just remove him from Juvia's sight.

His nose twitched when a familiar scent wafted into the room. Gajeel brought his wooden mug up to his pierced lips and took a long drink before slowly peering up at the petite, blue haired script mage. Her hazel eyes were more focused on the object she tinkered than where she was walking. Gajeel smirked and slipped out of his booth and strode over to her. He glanced at the bar, noticing the white haired waitress was giving him a sly look. _Great, just what I need._ He could smell her getting closer, and smirked, purposely waiting until he already knocked into her before turning to face her direction.

She let out a squeak when she landed on her behind, Gajeel heard a laugh escape his lips. "Watch where you're going, Shrimp."

Her hazel eyes grew large as she stared up at him, mouth agape. "Ga. . Gajeel. I'm sorry." She scampered up, dusting off her dress before smiling up at him. Gajeel eyed the item in her hand. "So when do I get to leave?"

Confusion clouded her features until she followed his gaze to the bracelet. "Oh this! Well, I think I got most of the kinks out, I just wanted to compare a few more things with Natsu and Lucy's bracelets."

Gajeel scowled, crossing his arms. "What types of glitches are happening now?"

Levy frowned, turning the item over in her hands. "Well, the color won't stay put for longer than 20 minutes, and it doesn't have as large of a variety as their bracelets do." She looked up into his red eyes and her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. "This also didn't change your hair color either."

Jet walked up behind Levy and crossed his arms. "It doesn't matter, with all of that metal in your face, it'll be clear to everyone who you are."

Gajeel growled out a few insults under his breath as he stormed away from Team Shadow Gear. _What the hell does she see in those two? I don't know how she manages to be on the same team, letting them fawn over __her like they do. Annoying bastards. _He threw himself back into his seat and gave the small, black feline a glare, warning him not to ask. Panther Lily chuckled lightly, shaking his head.

The white haired demon mage set down a large, wooden mug in front of Gajeel before giving him a large smile. "How are you doing Gajeel?" He responded by making an uninterested grunt. Her smile faltered before turning to Panther Lily, carefully placing a small glass of Kiwi juice in front of him. "And what about you Lily?"

Panther Lily smiled back, lifting the glass to his nose. "I'm good. Thank you Mira." He took a long whiff of the cup's contents. "Mmmmmm. This smell great! That was very sweet of you to bring us over more drinks."

Mira beamed, holding the tray to her body with one arm, the other waved the thought away. "It was nothing, you boys just looked thirsty." Her blue eyes turned to Gajeel quizzically. "So Gajeel. ." _Great, here it comes." _I saw you talking to Levy earlier."

He met her probing, blue eyes with his own stubborn stare. "And. . What of it?"

She raised her eyebrow, her smile turning more into that devilish smirk I see her make frequently. "What did you need to talk to her about? Even if you 'accidentally' bumped into her, you just got up went over there and then came back to your booth."

_Damn! _Gajeel shrugged lightly and looked away. "If you really must insist, I was asking her how long it's going to take her until she finishes that damn bracelet." He chanced a glance back, pleased to see the disappointment show on her face.

"I heard her mention that to the master as well. Once we see Lucy and Natsu again, we are supposed to tell them to meet up with Levy."

"Who knows when that idiot will be back. ." Gajeel let out sigh and picked up his mug, glancing down at the contents. "Have any metal?"

Mira chuckled lightly. "Yea, I will have to make another trip to the junk yard soon though, he said that besides you, we are his biggest customer and he's going to run out of iron soon."

Gajeel frowned thoughtfully before lifting the mug and taking a long draught. Mira sauntered back to the counter, leaving Gajeel in his thoughts. Panther Lily wandered off, what he said was lost to the iron dragon slayer.

A familiar scent drifted over to Gajeel and he let his gaze travel to the door. _FINALLY! That pink haired moron is back. _As Gajeel slid from his seat, he noticed that Natsu was alone. He eyed the guild's door curiously. _Where's bunny girl? _He mentally shrugged it off and stomped towards the other dragon slayer. He watched Wendy and Mira approach Natsu and ask him a few questions but Gajeel was far too determined on ripping the bracelet off of his wrist. Natsu sighed plopped down on the stool, his shoulders sagging. Gajeel slowed his pace and decided to add caution to his approach, something was clearly wrong. He listened to Natsu's response.

"Lucy's back at her apartment. We finished the job, but. . it didn't go as expected." Natsu looked up to Wendy. "Could you go and check her out later Wendy?"

The small, blue haired girl smiled. "Sure, what's wrong with her?"

Gajeel stopped walking once he saw Natsu shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Nothing's wrong. . now. But, I just want to make sure everything is okay."

Mira raised her eyebrow. "What happened?"

"Oh look, Natsu's back." Levy appeared next to Gajeel, causing him to jump with a start. His red eyes gave her a suspicious glare before trailing back to the conversation. "I'm surprised you haven't ripped his bracelet off yet."

"I didn't want to break it." He gruffly replied. She smiled, unconvinced. Levy glanced around curiously, "I don't Lucy, did she come back to the guild with Natsu?"

"No."

Levy's face scrunched in concerned. "Is she okay?"

Gajeel shrugged lightly, continuing to watch the conversation in front of him, not taking in any of the words. When the conversation seemed to lighten, he stomped over and ripped off Natsu's bracelet. "What the hell metal head! Don't break it!"

"You selfish little bastard! What about all of us here? Freed and Levy need one of these to finish with theirs."

Natsu kicked Gajeel. "Well you could have just asked, you didn't have to tear it off my arm!"

Gajeel turned his forearm into a metal rod and smashed it into Natsu's face. "Like hell you'd just hand it over!"

Natsu ground his teeth. "Well, not to you!"

Mira stepped in between the dragon slayers. "Now now boys!" She turned to Gajeel. "Just hand Levy the bracelet and then you can take this outside. Master has requested we don't fight near the bar, it's getting too expensive to repair."

Gajeel stared into Natsu's olive green eyes and could see the emotion and energy pent up; he decided it wasn't worth his time having to explain to the master and the red haired monster why he started another fight with a guild member. "Nah, it's not worth my time fighting this little punk today." He turned and tossed the small object to the wide eyed script mage before storming out the door. He could hear Natsu's angered growl behind him and figured if he wanted to follow to continue this fight, they could do it outside of the guild.

Gajeel continued to walk out of the town and soon was in the woods. He turned and sniffed the air. _I knew he'd follow; he probably needs to release some energy. _Natsu leapt from a nearby tree. "Fight me Gajeel!"

Gajeel smirked, "Thought you'd never ask." Between the punches and kicks, he noticed that Natsu was more serious than normally. "I wonder what's got your panties in a twist today. . ?" Natsu stared back, unfazed. "Did you and blondie get into a fight or something?" Natsu still didn't answer, his body stiffened and his gaze threatened Gajeel to stop, but it only fueled the other man. "Yea? What did she kick you out of her apartment again? Or . ."

"SHUT UP!" Natsu lunged, giving Gajeel a flaming punch before kicking him into a nearby tree.

Gajeel growled, watching Natsu carefully. "Why didn't she come back to the guild? What'd you do to her Salamander?"

"It's what I didn't do." Gajeel watched his opponent's shoulders drop slightly, his eyes soften with emotion.

"What happened?"

Natsu met his red eyes and he hesitantly whispered. "I couldn't protect her." He leaned against a tree and let his back slide down until he was seated. We were fighting some. . opponents and got separated. She fell into a river and drowned."

Gajeel chuckled. "I doubt that."

Natsu sat, expressionlessly staring back. "Well she had our client's granddaughter that we were saving at the time and was able to rescue her."

Gajeel sat up, listening. "What happened?"

Natsu sighed slowly. "From what I'm told, she somehow summoned Aquarius and she pulled Lucy out. After drawing out the water from her lungs, Loke did CPR."

Gajeel snickered. "That overgrown cat practically kissed her."

Natsu frowned. "She could have died and you're laughing!"

"Did she?" Natsu gave him a puzzled expression. Gajeel sighed. "Did she die?"

"No."

"Well there, no need to be upset then."

"But she almost did."

"And what the hell will worrying after the fact do?"

Natsu frowned. "I just. . I didn't do anything to help. If I was stronger then maybe that wouldn't have happened."

Gajeel stared up at the light peeking through the leaves of the trees. "Well, maybe instead of dwelling on what could have happened, you could think focus on what to do next time to save her."

"I'm going to get stronger."

Gajeel glanced over to the determined, pink haired teen. "Strength isn't everything Salamander." Natsu glanced over to him. "What'll happen if she drowns again?"

Natsu frowned. "I know CPR." Gajeel raised his eyebrow. "Kinda. . Okay, so I'll talk to Mira about getting a refresher on first aid."

Gajeel smirked. "That's a start."

Natsu watched Gajeel with a suspicious frown. "When did you start to care so much?"

Gajeel jumped. "Oye! Who said anything about me caring! I just don't want to listen to you whine anymore!"

Natsu jumped to his feet. "Hey! You're the one that started it!"

Gajeel smirked and he dodged a kick from Natsu.

**I hope you all liked the story in Gajeel's point of view, it was different for me to try and write in his mindset. For those of you who are following my other story, no I'm not dead, I am almost done with the chapter, it will be posted on Sunday. *sigh* I know you all don't want to listen to my drama, but I've been picking up more evening shifts at work and for the summer I'm watching my friend's kid, so I literally have to free time to write. I'm trying though, it's just I have to make my home life a priority and unfortunately that cuts down on writing time.**

**Let me know what you think of this chapter and I'll give you all a choice (you have until Sunday to vote). Levy's point of view or back to Lucy's for next chapter. The plot will be relatively the same development either way, I just figured it might be fun if you all get to help decide. **

**I'll update again by next Saturday, absolute latest! Friday is my goal though. =)**


	25. Chapter 25

**I want to give a shout out thanks to all of those that have reviewed my last chapter. **

_**OgaxHilda**_

_**Nekokittygirl**_

_**crbrgmi**_

_**Extreme399**_

**To the 2 that commented as Guest, thank you for reviewing as well. **

**Also, thank you to everyone that has added this as a favorite and is following the story, or added me as a favorite and may be following me as a writer.**

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 25**

Lucy sat on her bed and stared out the window. She watched as a familiar blue Exceed flew in her direction and she opened the window, giving a small wave. "Hi Lucy!" Happy joyously smiled.

"Hey, Happy. What are you doing here?"

His smile faltered. "I missed you and Natsu, so I came to spend some time here. You know, since this is where we hangout all the time."

Lucy frowned. "We hangout at the guild usually. Why come here and not just go to the guild?"

Happy shook his head. "Well I was at the guild earlier but I went out to go fishing, but that wasn't fun by myself so . ." Happy looked around. "Where's Natsu?"

Lucy shifted on the bed. "At the guild I think."

Happy stepped closer. "Why aren't you at the guild hall?" Lucy shrugged lightly and stared out the window. _There's no way I can explain this to Happy. Can I? The look on Natsu's face, I don't think I can handle it anymore right now. _"Lucy, are you okay?"

She smiled at Happy. "Yeah! Why do you ask?

Happy gave her a thoughtful frown. "Your face looks weird."

"Thanks." She muttered sarcastically. She bit her bottom lip. "Happy, actually there was something that happened."

Happy watched her curiously. Lucy retold their quest and explained the river incident. His eyes grew large. "What happened then?"

"Well, I guess I summoned Aquarius and she pulled me out of the water." Lucy shifted on the bed. "I woke up and. . well I. . I guess Loke had done CPR on me."

Happy's eyes widened. "So you actually drowned?" Lucy nodded slowly. "Where was Natsu when this happened?"

"Well he was fighting them during most of it I think, but he was there when I woke up."

Happy plopped down on his butt and tilted his head thoughtfully to Lucy. "So did he see Loke do the CPR?"

Lucy stared at Happy. "I think so. . Since then he has been acting a bit weird."

Happy nodded understandingly. "Makes sense."

"How?"

"Well. ." Happy looked around guiltily. "ever since that time that he watched the future you die, he's. . had nightmares and is more determined."

Lucy frowned. "More determined about what? And why would the nightmares affect me?"

Happy shook his head. "Lucy you can really be dumb sometimes!"

"Hey!"

"He has nightmares about you dying!" Lucy's eyes widened. "He's determined to become stronger and save you next time."

Lucy scrunched her face in thought, recalling when she woke up. The worry on his face, the pain in his eyes she couldn't read until now. She recalled everyone else's faces and shook her head. "I think I get it now. Thanks Happy."

Happy nodded, slowly standing. "Don't tell him I told you, I don't think he'd want you to know."

Lucy turned to Happy. "Is that what happened to his hammock?"

Happy gave her a reserved look before walking to the window. "I'm going to head to the guild. I'll see you later Lucy!"

She smiled softly. "Bye Happy. Thanks!" She watched him fly out and closed the window, leaving it unlocked _just in case._ Lucy sat deep in thought for a while longer until she heard a soft knock on her door. She curiously went over to find Wendy at her doorstep accompanied by Levy and Carla. "Hey, what are you all doing here?"

Wendy smiled sweetly. "Natsu asked if I could come by and check on you, he mentioned that there was an incident on your last quest."

Lucy sighed. "I'm fine now." She smiled at the three. "Come on in."

Levy held out a box that was neatly wrapped. "Mira sent over some dinner and hoped that you'd get better."

Lucy giggled. "I'll have to go by tomorrow and say thank you." She led them to her couch where Wendy did a quick check on Lucy. "I told Natsu I was fine. Thanks for checking though, it does help put to rest any worries."

Wendy smiled back. "Yea, he was a little on edge at the guild."

Levy fidgeted with the book in her hands. "Gajeel started a fight with Natsu and then they both left."

Lucy sighed. "What is with the guys and fighting?"

Levy shook her head with a light laugh. "It's always been that way."

Lucy looked over to Levy. "Hey, do you know where they store the old photos of the guild members?"

Levy tilted her head with curiosity. "Yeah, down in the basement. Most of them are in an old trunk I think. Why?"

Lucy shook her head. "Oh no reason." She leaned in. "So how has it been with the bracelets?"

Levy laughed. "Actually, now that I have Natsu's it'll go better." Lucy looked surprised so Levy continued. "Gajeel took it from him, which is actually how they got into a fight."

Wendy turned to Lucy. "Speaking of which, what happened? Gajeel interrupted Natsu's story."

Lucy recounted the story, stopping for them to discuss the river incident. "Oh Lucy, are you okay?"

Lucy sighed. "Yes. Wendy, you're the one who checked me!"

Wendy blushed lightly. "Oh right."

Carla humphed. "Well, I don't see what there is to worry about now. Lucy is fine and healthy."

Lucy held up her hand. "YES! See! Thank you Carla!"

"Although. ." _Noooooo! _"You should really be careful in the future. What if you weren't able to get Aquarius out next time before you lose consciousness?"

Lucy slouched in her seat, looking over to Levy pleadingly. Levy frowned thoughtfully at the situation. "Well, I believe in Lucy's ability so I'm not going to worry." Lucy smiled at the petite book worm. "Plus I don't want to imagine what would have happened if Lu didn't make it."

Lucy crossed her arms, feeling defeated. "I'll try to be more careful.

"Lu. ." Levy lean forward. "So what happened next?"

Lucy smiled. "Well after I woke up I saw Aquarius, Leo, Natsu and. ."

After a moment of pause, Levy frowned. "And. . ?"

"The little girl that we saved." Lucy stared at her hands, deep in thought. "We went back to her grandfathers and told him what we overheard the cat people say and he said he would see to it that she can be trained so she can actually have a chance at protecting herself in he future. We gave him a vial of the odor eating lacrima for her for the time being."

Wendy smiled. "That's good."

Lucy nodded. "Is the master in right now?"

Levy giggled. "Actually, no. When Natsu was captured and taken by those people, he never finished his quest and the client has reached out to the guild. That's actually the main reason why the master let you all go so quickly before the bracelets were finished; he knew if Natsu found out he would insist on taking the items he retrieved himself to the client."

Lucy raised her eyebrow. "So the master went?"

Levy nodded. "With Erza of course."

Wendy let out a yawn, giving Lucy a hint on how dark the sky has grown during their visit. "You know what, I'm getting tired." She placed a hand over her own mouth to cover a fake yawn. "How about I meet with you both tomorrow at the guild?"

They all agreed and slowly headed out to their rooms at Fairy Hills. Once Lucy was sure they were gone, she slipped out of her apartment and made her way to the guild. Opening the door, she smiled seeing only a few members lingering at the bar. Mira's bright blue eyes instantly spotted her. "Oh Lucy!" _Dangit! _

"Hey Mira!"

"How are you?" Her blue eyes filled with concern as she made her way over to Lucy with that welcoming smile she always wore.

"Good. Actually, Mira. . I wanted to check something."

Mira raised her eyebrow. "Oh?"

Lucy raised her hands in front of her. "Nothing important. Just something stupid I was curious over." Mira cocked her head to the side in confusion and hummed in response. Lucy sighed. "I was wondering if you could show me where the old pictures of the guild members are. I was talking about it with Levy earlier and I just wanted to check them out."

Mira's smile widened. "Oh! I know where those are!" She led Lucy to the basement and left a lantern on the desk while she pulled out a large trunk. "The newest ones are on the top."

Lucy nodded and gave thanks as Mira departed. She started to thumb through the photos. _Too recent. These look like photos from when we were gone on Tenrou. Photos of when I first started the guild. _Lucy kept digging, soon she had piles of photos scattered across the table, the amount in the trunk seemed endless. She started to get to ones where Natsu and Happy looked so young and knew she was on the right track. Her eyes widened. _There! That's it._ She held the picture up to the lantern to get a better view. She pulled the photo out of her pocket to compare. _That little girl, she looks just like Cana!_

**Alrighty everyone, I can't believe I'm already at 25 chapters! So excited! **

**I just posted a one shot earlier, I have to say it was my first one that I ever wrote so it was a new experience but I just needed to get it out. I recommend that if you are not caught up on the Manga chapters to not read it. MAJOR spoilers if you are just watching the show as the episodes come out. **

**Thanks everyone and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. More will be explained in the next chapter. =)**


	26. Chapter 26

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 26**

Levy stayed up the entire night before, only resting a few short hours before hearing a ruckus in the hall. She stretched, accidentally knocking a few books off of her bed. She leapt off the bed and quickly placed them back in piles. The noise outside of her room brought her attention back to what woke her up. She opened the door, rubbing her eyes. "What's all of this noise from?"

Her hazel eyes widened in shock; Gajeel was pinned down to the floor by an enraged Erza. The two didn't notice Levy's presence yet and continued arguing.

"I just wanted to see how those bracelets were coming along! You don't have to attack me!"

"Like I have told you and all of the others many times in the past." Her grip on his arm tightened as she pulled it farther back. "This is a girl's only dormitory!"

"I've seen that blue cat in here!"

"Happy is a cat, not a man." Erza shifted her wait so her knee was pressed deeper into Gajeel's back; the man let out a displeased groan. "Now, state your business."

"I already told you! I'm here to see shrimp." Levy let out a light gasp of surprise, alerting the two of her presence.

Erza's elbow crashed down into the dragon slayer's head, briefly knocking him out. The red head stood and dusted her hands, glaring down at the man. She let out a sigh before turning her gaze to the small blunette. "Levy, I'm dragging him outside, I expect you to deal with him from there." She nodded and followed the irate requip mage to the front entrance.

Once Erza stormed back into the dormitories, Levy finally released her sigh and glanced curiously over to the dragon slayer that was lying face down in the dirt.

"What are you doing here?"

Gajeel lifted his head, his red eyes meeting her hazel eyes. "When will the bracelets be done?"

Levy puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "Is that what all of this is about?"

Gajeel smirked wickedly, resting his chin on his hand. "What else would it be?" Levy crossed her arms with a frown. Gajeel let out his laugh as his eyes roamed over her clothes. "Nice jammies." Levy felt her face flush as she glanced down at her teal pajamas with owls and books scattered across the fabric. She glared at Gajeel as his laughing continued.

"You're such a jerk sometimes!" She stormed inside and was met with an intrigued Juvia.

"What did Gajeel want?" Juvia curiously looked over Levy's shoulder out the front doors to see Gajeel still lying on the ground staring in their direction.

Levy let out a huff of annoyance. "He's just being impatient, that's all." She made her way back to her room, the level of her irritation increased at seeing Erza leaning against her door frame. The red head turned and questioningly looked over to her at hearing her approach. Not waiting for the question, Levy cut to the point. "He just wanted to know when the bracelet will be finished, just like he said."

Erza nodded thoughtfully, standing upright. "Yes, I could imagine how hard it must be to be cooped up for so long." Erza glanced over to the petite script mage. "How is it coming along?"

Levy let out a light groan. "I have no idea. I'm going to test it out later today to see if I can work out any more kinks."

Erza gave another small nod before departing. Once Levy was back in her room, she threw herself on her bed and stared above her. "Well, now I don't feel tired." She let her eyes roam around the room before landing on the open book next to the bracelet. After battling with herself for several long minutes, she got up once again and made her way over to the desk and skimmed over the pages she stayed up so late the night before engraving into her memory. She picked up the bracelet and stood in front of the mirror. "Well, might as well get this over with."

Levy turned one of the dials and smirked at seeing the hair change from blue to purple. She looked down at her wrist and the smirk turned into a frown. "Hmm, so the colors on this. ." She tapped the bracelet. "Don't match the colors it's producing." She picked up the nearest book and started to thumb through it. She returned to the mirror and tried to switch the dial to black, only to have her hair change to and dark pink shade. "Noooooo." She briskly walked to her closet, grabbed the nearest dress on a hanger, and threw it on before rushing out of the apartment, grumbling to herself.

She smiled despite the disappointment that welled up in her chest when she walked out and noticed that Gajeel was nowhere in sight. Levy quickly made her way to the guild and scanned the room with a frown. She walked over to the bar. "Mira, have you seen Freed?"

Mira turned, her eyes widened in surprise. "No, I haven't. . Oh wow Levy! I like what you did with your hair."

Levy tilted her head in confusion, a dark pink strand of hair fell into her face. "Oh! She held up the bracelet. "I totally forgot that I was still wearing this."

Mira leaned over the counter, a smile spread across her face. "So you finally got it working?"

Levy let out a sigh. "Actually, I keep running into glitches." She turned the dial several times, her hair changing rapidly with each turn. Red, orange, blonde, green, black. "I can't get the color the dial to match the color of the hair." She held up the bracelet to show the takeover mage her dilemma.

Mira frowned slightly before looking back up to Levy. "Well at least it's changing the colors now."

Levy nodded and climbed onto the bench. "Yea, but I want it functioning properly before we hand them out to all of the dragon slayers. I don't want it to glitch out and change their hair to rainbow colors and have them stand out even more or give away what we are doing." She put her head in her hands and stared down at the counter. "This project is more complicated than I originally thought." She looked over to Reedus who was finishing another one of his brilliant masterpieces. "Oh! I just had an idea!" Her hazel eyes shone brightly as she bounced out of the chair and made her way to the artist.

* * *

Gajeel strode into the guildhall, pleased that the pain from this morning's stunt was already gone. He took a quick whiff and caught a familiar scent. He raised an eyebrow. _She's here at the guild? Well I'll just check in again and see how the progress is going. _

Gajeel scanned the room with a frown._ I don't see her blue hair anywhere. _He took another deep breathe and focused in on a pettite girl with black hair; a scowl appeared on his face. _So she has it working already and didn't say anything earlier about it. _He watched her laugh at something Reedus said before thanking the artist and walking with new-found determination to the door. Gajeel trailed behind her, wondering what she planned on doing for the day. Levy was soon at an art supply store and Gajeel decided he'd just wait on a bench down the street for her to finish. Once she left the store with several bags, she made her way across the street to a bookstore. Gajeel's impatience was overflowing at this point so he decided to follow her into the store. She scanned fashion magazines, gathering several into a basket before moving to another section. Gajeel stalked her from the other side of the store, waiting to see if he could surprise her. As he rounded a corner, he jumped back in surprise. He peeked his head around the corner. _I wonder why bunny girl is here._

Levy turned around the opposite corner, her face lighting up. "Lu!"

Lucy turned and gave a brilliant smile. "Levy! Oh man, your hair!" She grabbed her friends hair and held out the black strands.

Levy blushed and started to fidget with the bracelet. "I. . just keep forgetting that I'm wearing it." She looked up to Lucy smiling.

Lucy's eyes widened. "So you got it working?" Gajeel leaned over farther to get a better look at her expression.

"Well. . I'm just working out the kinks right now. It isn't working as well as I wanted it to." Lucy nodded understandingly, giving a hum in response. "What are you doing here Lucy? I don't usually see you in this section of the book store."

Lucy frowned thoughtfully, looking back to the shelves. "Just doing some research on a few things." Levy's eyes roamed over the mythical creature titles in Lucy's hands before giving Lucy a skeptical look. "It's more for my own curiosity than anything else."

Levy nodded back. "Well, I'll chat with you later Lucy! I need to get back to work on these bracelets."

Gajeel panicked as he saw Lucy approaching his current hiding spot; he quickly stepped down another aisle and went around the other side so he could see what Levy was grabbing next. He turned the corner and couldn't help but snicker at her struggles to get a book too far out of her reach. She gave a quick look around before setting down her small basket of magazines and stepping on the bookshelf. She reached up with no avail. Gajeel slowly made his way towards her, watching with amusement as she puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. She climbed up to the next shelf and happily snatched the book off of the shelf. "Oy Shrimp!" The smile was replaced with shock as she lost her grip on the shelf and fell. Gajeel jumped forward to help but was too slow as she landed ungracefully on her bottom.

She frowned towards the man that was towering her. "W. . What are you doing here?" Gajeel crossed his arms and glared at the magazines that where across the floor form the basket being knock over.

"I should ask you the same thing." He picked one up and stared incredulously at her. "You're coming here to buy this trash to read instead of working on the bracelets?"

Levy stood, rolling her eyes, before snatching the magazine away from the dragon slayer. "ACTUALLY. . I was grabbing these for research on people's hair and eyes, not to mention style of clothes. I was thinking about trying to see if I can change skin tones while I'm at it and then . ."

"How about you just focus on finishing the basic stuff first."

She glared into his red eyes. "Well really for the hair I could always ask Lucy's spirit Cancer to change the color and length, the eyes and any other features are what we need to change to disguise."

Gajeel scoffed. "If Salamander can fool the whole guild by changing only his hair and eyes, so can I."

Levy raised her eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. "Is that so?"

Gajeel felt himself swallow. "Y. . Yeah!" Levy picked up her basket and collected her magazines; Gajeel sighed before bending down and grabbing one to look thought. "I mean, I don't see what in here would be that helpful!" Levy scooted closer, Gajeel stiffened, not wanting to scare her away with a sudden movement. She chewed on the bottom of her lip as she turned a few pages. She suddenly pointed to the middle of a page and stared at Gajeel.

"Look, I don't think the guild would ever imagine you or Laxus wearing this type of stuff, not to mention if we had your hair styled to something like this. ."

He let out a sigh before turning to her. "Fine." Levy stared at him with a blank expression, not registering what he said.

"W. . w. .What?"

"Fine." He stood, placing the magazine back in her basket. "I'll try some of that out." She set the magazine in the basket with her other belongings before making her way to the register. She looked over her shoulder to see Gajeel who was still right behind her. As she left the shop she turned right, only to be stopped by a strong grip on her collar. "Yer not going back to Fairy Hills."

Levy glared over her shoulder. "Where am I supposed to work?"

Gajeel let go with a smirk and crossed his arms across his chest. "I don't care. The park, nearby beach, the guild hall."

"Why can't I go back to Fairy Hills and work there?"

"I'm going to make sure you don't get distracted." Levy gulped, staring longingly to the direction of Fairy Hills.

"Fine. Let's go to the park."

Gajeel's smirk widened. "Good."

**Okay so just so you all know, next chapter will not be Gajeel/Levy. I originally made this all in Levy's point of view but I felt like it was too awkward and ended up rewriting the entire thing. Let me know what you all think. =)**


	27. Chapter 27

**I want to thank everyone for their continued support as always, and now for my review shout outs!**

_**kisstheskyx**_

_**Child at Heart Forever**_

_**papaya-cha**_

_**And my two Guests (Thank you)**_

**I also want to thank everyone that is following and added this story or myself as a favorite. **

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 27**

Lucy sat on her bed, thumbing through the pages of the books she picked up. She pulled out her Edolas book and brought up the history of Exceeds while she was at it. After several hours of disappointment, she finally threw herself back, stretching her upper body across the bed with a groan.

Hey Luce!" She shot up into a sitting position, her startled face stared into her kitchen's doorway. Natsu casually leaned against the door frame, a chicken leg sticking out of his mouth. "Are you finally done with your books?"

She turned and looked at her window before turning back to him. "How'd you get in?"

He raised his eyebrow. "Thanks for ignoring my question." He took another bite of his chicken, cleaning it to the bone, before glancing back to her curious expression. "I came in through the window like I always do."

"H. . .How?! I'm sitting right here!"

Natsu chuckled. "Well yea! You were so into whatever your reading I didn't want to bother you so I jumped behind you. I really thought you would've heard me when I landed, but I guess you were just lost into the books." He shrugged.

He pulled out a handful of popcorn before laying down on her couch, which to her horror had crumbs and snack wrappers scattered. _How long has he seriously been here?_ She crossed her arms across her chest. "I hope you plan on cleaning that mess up." Natsu looked around him with surprise before letting out a groan. A smile danced it's way across her lips as she walked towards the kitchen. "Where's Happy?"

As Natsu grabbed the wrappers, from the floor, he glanced up towards her. "He's at the guild talking to Carla I think. Apparently he's been taking some of Mira's advice and went out to get some tea or something."

Lucy giggled. "Wow, so is he going to brew it for her or just hand her a bag of tea?"

Natsu shrugged as he stood, slowly making his way back to the kitchen. He frowned as he returned to find Lucy starting up the vacuum and sucking up his crumbly mess. He silently plopped onto her bed, curiously looking over the books. Once the loud hum of the vacuum stopped, he glanced back to the blonde. "So what are you reading anyways?"

Lucy wrapped the cord around the device, avoiding his gaze. "Just something I wanted to look into."

Natsu picked through the books lazily scanning random bits of information until his gaze landed on a picture that was sticking out of another book. He opened that book and held the picture out before curiously looking over to Lucy. "Why is this old guild picture in here?"

Lucy's eyes widened. "What? Oh, that. . Well, I was just. . Looking through a bit of things and I found that."

Natsu's eyes roamed over the picture, nostalgic memories coursing through him as he studied each young, eager face. As his eyes settled on Cana, the memory of a small brown haired girl crying as Natsu watched Loke perform CPR on Lucy rushed over him. He dropped the picture, his hand instinctively rushing to his head as he so wished he could burn that image out of his head. He looked over to Lucy's wide eyes before giving her a nervous smile. "It's kinda weird."

"What is?"

"That girl that we helped the other day, she kinda looked like Cana did when she was younger."

Lucy's breath hitched. "Yea, weird."

Natsu's green eyes looked over the books as he flipped them closed, staring at the titles. "Are you researching those cat people?"

Lucy slowly nodded. "I can't find much information from these books, I think I'm going to rummage through the guild's library again, I think I might have missed something there."

Natsu, picked up the picture again, staring at the brown haired girl. "So they are after Cana. .?"

Lucy sighed, "I'm not entirely sure, but seeing that they are looking for a . . prophet and Cana can read cards to tell fortune, maybe. But the age thing screws me up, they said that they've been looking for about 10 years now. . I'm not sure if Cana's age matches up."

Natsu raised his eyebrow questioningly. "What do you mean?"

She picked up the picture of the young Fairy Tail members, staring down at the card mage. "I mean since the whole 7 year gap thing, they would be looking for someone a little older than Cana now right?"

Natsu shrugged his shoulders. "They did mention that they age differently than humans, did they give an age range?"

Lucy stared at the wall, deep in thought. "I don't believe so. Still, it feels like a stretch to assume it's Cana. I'm going to tell Master about it and see what he thinks."

Natsu crossed his arms, nodding slowly. "What about Cana?" Lucy looked over to him as he continued. "Are we going to tell her?"

Lucy bit her lip indecisively. "I don't want to tell her if they aren't looking for her. . But. . I don't want her to be unprepared either. . I suppose we let Master decide."

Natsu plopped back across the couch. "Well let me know when we are heading out."

She raised her eyebrow. "Well you can just head out now if you want, I'm not done with those books yet." Natsu grumbled, but remained where he was.

Several hours passed and Lucy found herself with a stiff neck and without any more information than when she started. She let out a long sigh before looking over to the couch to see Natsu dozing peacefully. She cleaned the clutter of books from her bed and made her way to the kitchen. She opened the fridge with disappointment, finding it bare. The disappointment spread as she checked her other cabinets. Slamming the cabinet shut, she stomped into the other room to find Natsu standing alert. "What was that? I heard a loud bang!"

"THAT was the sound of my empty cupboard door closing!"

Natsu's face relaxed, "Oh. . yeah sorry, I forgot to mention that you're out of food."

Lucy grabbed her bag and stormed out of the front door, ignoring the inquiries being thrown at her. As she made it to the street, she heard Natsu land on the ground and approach her. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"I'm going grocery shopping."

"Let's just go to the guild and eat, it'll be on me this time."

Lucy crossed her arms. "Well it should be, since you are the one who ate all of my food!"

Once their appetites were sated, Lucy quickly made her way down to the library. She dug through all sorts of titles, leaving Natsu to once again nap on a nearby chair. She slammed down a book in frustration, causing her teammate to jump. "What is it? What happened?"

Lucy looked over to Natsu curiously. "There wasn't anything in this book that was helpful." She frowned. "Just like you. . Why are you even down here?"

Natsu crossed his arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Lucy looked at the empty space in front of him on the table and pointed to the drool. "Why are you down here when you aren't even helping? You're just sleeping. Go upstairs and fight with Gray or something."

Natsu raised his eyebrow. "You want me to leave you all alone down here?" Lucy stood and walked over to the bookshelf, sifting through more volumes. Natsu let out a low sigh. "Fine I won't bother you anymore." He slowly shuffled out of the room, casting one last glance over to the blonde before making his way upstairs.

Once at the bar, Mira confirmed that Gray was out on a mission with Erza, leaving a wailing Juvia behind. Natsu was disappointed to find that Mira didn't know where Gajeel went off to; however her good news was that the Master was due back any minute.

Natsu grumbled, slamming his head against the counter.

Lucy stared at the doorway wearing a disappointed expression. _Why did I have to push him out like that? _She turned back to the shelf and sifted through the titles, pulling out several more books. She sat down and stared at the cover.

"That's an interesting book you have there." Lucy jumped and turned towards the source of the gruff voice. Makarov stood on the steps, watching her thoughtfully. "Mira mentioned you wanted to speak with me."

Lucy told the master about their latest mission, describing the cat like people and show him a picture of the little girl, comparing it to the picture of the young fairy tail members. Lucy explained her theories on how she and Natsu believe that they might be after Cana. Makarov nodded, absorbing all of this new information. "I see, that is interesting. You mentioned that they tore up a photo of the one they were looking for?"

Lucy nodded. "Yea, I believe they did."

"If we can get that photo, then we will know for sure."

"I'll go grab Natsu and we. ."

He held up his hand. "Actually, I will be having Natsu train with Wendy for the next several days, it'll be good for Wendy to train with other dragon slayers so she can defend herself."

Lucy nodded slowly. "I can just go by myself."

Makarov stared at Lucy, his blue eyes intent. "I would prefer it if you didn't go alone. I think Mira mentioned that Erza was excited to go on a mission with you. She should be back tonight with Gray, I'll ask her to go with you and investigate this issue further."

Lucy nodded, knowing that Natsu wasn't going to like the idea of being left behind.

**I do want to apologize that this took so long, I was out camping last week and this week I was busy with my daughter. I took her to a few different science centers for children during the days and I've been picking up shifts like crazy at work. I probably won't update next week so I can get back on my feet. I also had a lot of trouble with this chapter, I rewrote it like a bagillion times (more like 5), but thanks to _Kisstheskyx_ for talking through my frustrations on the wording, I'm much happier with it now. **

**I am working on A New World and am hoping to get the next chapter out Monday. . ish. I'm trying!**

**Tomorrow (sometime Sunday afternoonish for me) I will be posting the first chapter to a new story. The chapters are super short so it'll be an easy read for everyone. **

**I love you all and thanks for reading my story and my added drabble.**


	28. Chapter 28

**I want to thank ****_Child at Heart Forever_ ****and _Anonymous Person_ ****for their reviews. **

**To Anonymous Person's review:** _**I didn't want to give away too much but I will confirm that the side stories do tie into the main plot of the Dragon Demolishers. To be honest, there are some very big things I have planned on how to incorporate some of them. I try to skip some of the less important details although I do like to add in small character development and overall drama. Sorry this story isn't as straightforward as you were thinking. (This chapter here isn't overly related to the plot, someone just mentioned a while back that they were hoping to read more missions and action and I needed them to go back to the last location and retrieve that photo. **_

_**For the cat people inspiration, I honestly came up with that on my own (almost went with lizard people but felt it was too Daphne arc and didn't want a repeat of that mess). I used Panther Lily as inspiration and then went online and googled cats for about 4 hours. I will have to check out that story in my free time though. **_

**I also want to thank everyone that has added this to their favorites and have started following this story and me. **

* * *

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 28**

Lucy sat on the train, staring out the window with worry. "Lucy." She turned to the red head sitting across from her. "You look upset, is there something on your mind?"

She smiled, shaking her head. "Well, it's nothing really."

Erza didn't look convinced. "Is going on a mission with just me so bothersome?"

Lucy's eyes widened; she threw up her hands in protest. "NO! No no no. Erza, really, I am excited to go on a mission, just us girls. I've actually always looked forward to it just being you and me."

"Then what is it?"

Lucy sighed, wringing her hands in her lap. "It's just, I didn't tell Natsu that we were going and he's been a bit overprotective lately."

Erza seemed to mull over this for several moments. "Well, I don't think he should have to worry."

Lucy smiled, "Yeah, I came on a mission with you."

Erza shook her head with a soft smile. "No, even without me here, you are a strong wizard, capable of taking care of yourself."

Lucy looked away. "Look, I should tell more about our last mission."

"Yes, Master did request that we stop on the way back from our quest and look for something."

Lucy began to tell Erza about their last mission; from the cat people all the way to the river incident. Erza simply nodded thoughtfully. "I see why he would get upset and protective, that must have been hard for him to watch." Lucy chewed on her bottom lip in thought.

Soon they arrived at their destination and sought out the client in question. He was a tall, thin, frail looking man with short, well managed brown hair and a mustache. He didn't smile; he simply invited them in and requested his servant to fetch a plate of scones and tea. Lucy sat, nibbling, waiting for him to explain why they were here. Silence dragged on with him sitting across from them, almost ignoring them, as he drank his tea.

Erza impatiently stared at the man. "You placed a request with Fairy Tail."

"Yes." Silence resumed.

Lucy looked uncertainly to Erza, the requip mage watched the client, expecting him to just continue. With a sigh she picked up her tea cup. "So, Duke Willows, what is it that you need help with?"

He looked over his cup nonchalantly. "I'm having a luncheon this afternoon and just wanted some security." He looked between the two mages. "You will need to be dressed formally to blend in; I would rather people not know about the security."

Erza nodded. "Understood."

Lucy frowned thoughtfully. "Is there a reason that you need security at this luncheon?"

He looked surprised by the question before waving it off. "Oh, well the last few parties there have been attempts on my life, so this is just a precaution."

Erza leaned forward. "Attempts on your life? Someone is trying to kill you?" He nodded before bringing his small, porcelain cup to his lips for a long drink. "Can you describe the person?"

He placed the cup on the saucer and looked at the mages thoughtfully. "I don't recall, I'll ask my servants to give you more details." He picked up a small bell and gave a quick ring, summoning two servants to the doorway. "Please show these ladies to their rooms and answer any questions they have about the guests and the party event."

With a small nod the servants escorted Erza and Lucy to their rooms and answered what little they knew about the past incidents. Erza pulled 2 elegant gowns out and gave Lucy the light pink one while she donned the light blue. Both dresses were halter strapped and went down to their ankles; Lucy's dress dipped low in the back, swooping down to her hips. Erza carefully put on her black and blue shoes; she insisted on putting them on personally, telling Lucy sometimes she enjoys getting changed the traditional way. Lucy refused Erza's extra heels and opted for a silver pair she frequently carried in case of fashion emergencies (and to think Natsu always said it was ridiculous of her to pack them).

The luncheon was nothing new for Lucy, having attended several similar events in her past. Erza, however, was entranced by the miniaturized food and the classical music played by the live band. She followed Lucy slowly around the room, mainly listening as Lucy made light conversation with many guests. She sipped on her glass of champagne and let out a relaxed sigh. Lucy looked over to her curiously. "It's so nice going on this mission, just the two of us; I don't have to worry about Natsu and Gray getting into a brawl and destroying the place."

Lucy smiled. "It does remove some of the stress from wondering what impending disaster is about to come."

Erza took a seat and let her gaze glide across the room. "Anyone you suspect yet?"

Lucy shook her head, her pinned up curls bouncing. "No, the servants gave a very brief description from what they experienced."

The butler announced the host as he walked in; everyone clapped with respect.

He grabbed a microphone lacrima, "I want to thank everyone for helping me celebrate another successful book release this month." Another round of applause went out throughout the room. "Please enjoy the party." He handed the microphone to his servant and gracefully walked into his group of friends crowded around him, shaking hands and laughing with a care free attitude at some jokes.

Lucy eyed the guests, hiding her suspicion behind her champagne glass. She turned to Erza, "I don't see anyone that meets the description."

Erza nodded, watching the guests. "Yes, by now almost everyone has made contact with him and there hasn't been a sign of hostility."

The party continued to flow elegantly, Erza and Lucy easily blending in with the crowd. As it neared 4pm, the musicians started to pack up. The butler came over and started to have a quiet but heated discussion with the violinist. Lucy and Erza watched the exchange with interest, casually making their way over.

Out of the corner of her eye, Erza saw the flute player shift his instrument and hold it up to play a note. With lightning fast reflexes, she brings out one of her swords and blocks a dart that was headed towards her client. The violinist and pianist looked back to their flute player before turning towards the redhead. The pianist quickly fled the room as the violinist pulled out his bow and clicked a button, causing a handle to extend down, the space between the wood and the cord filled with sharp a metal blade.

Erza turned to Lucy, nodding her head towards the pianist and Lucy followed him swiftly, dodging the darts that followed her. As she rounded a corner, she felt a sharp pain and was blasted into the wall behind her, electricity coursing around her. She warily looked up and saw the pianist holding a ball of lightning, a smirk playing across his lips. He brought back his hand to throw his next attack. Lucy pulled out a key and quickly summoned her spirit. "Open, gate of the Lion! Leo!"

Loke instantly used his Regulus Blast to block the attack. "Hmph. Is that all you've got?" He laughed haughtily. "Laxus can produce stronger lightning attacks in his sleep."

Lucy stood up, shaking off the remainder of his last attack. "Alright, let's do this Loke."

He gave her a grin as she pulled her whip out of her bag and snapped it against the marble flooring. The man stepped back, cautiously eyeing the duo. He held up his hands, holding two new electric balls before tossing them towards Lucy and Loke. Loke used another Regulus blast, clashing with the attack and stopping it. Lucy jumped forward flicking her wrist; her whip wrapped around the man's ankle and she yanked back, knocking him on his back. Loke stalked over to him and knocked him out. Lucy walked back into the main ballroom and spotted Erza talking to the client as servants were dragging away unconscious musicians. Lucy joins the group. "I caught up with the third man, we knocked him out."

Erza turned to Lucy, expression serious. "We have a small complication." Lucy's eyes widened as she quickly scanned the room. Not seeing anything wrong, she looked over to the distressed Duke.

"I'll say we do, we need music for the rest of the party, there is still 2 hours I had scheduled."

Lucy stared, dumbfounded at the client. "These men were the ones attacking you."

He shrugged, "It doesn't solve my music problem. Don't get me wrong, the little fight show was a small entertainment, but we need something for the remainder of the evening."

Lucy pulled out her keys, "I have a spirit that can help." Lucy quickly summoned Lyra and asked her if she could play music for the remainder of the party. The client was overjoyed at having a harp player that can sing and the guests seemed to enjoy the change.

As Erza and Lucy were leaving that evening, the butler came to them with an envelope. "I appreciate you coming and taking care of the issue." As Erza opened the envelope, the butler handed another one to Lucy. "I would also like to express my gratitude for taking care of the music."

Lucy's eyes widened in shock as she accepted it. "What?"

"That is the money we were going to pay the musicians; however, since the incident resulted in their arrest, we felt it was only fair to give it to the musician who filled in for the remaining time."

Lucy stammered out her appreciation before slowly accepting the money and stashing it away.

As Lucy and Erza made their way back into town, Erza frowned. "I suppose we will stay at a hotel tonight since we are supposed to stop at the other location and look around. It's already getting dark."

Lucy nodded, _I wonder if Natsu has noticed I left with Erza yet. . ?_

* * *

**Alright everyone, sorry that this weeks chapter is a tad on the short side. I hope you all liked the Lucy and Erza mission chapter. I'm posting a chapter of To My Dearest Layla on Tuesday and will work on any free time I get on Monday besides cleaning and cooking (my only day off this week) to focus on A New World to hopefully have that up then as well. **

**I've been picking up shifts like crazy at work (one coworker quit and all of his shifts are open) and rarely have any typing time right now, at least I'm not baby sitting during the day so I just have one child, not two or three like I have been lately. **


	29. Chapter 29

**Thank you for those who reviewed:**

_**papaya-cha**_

_**kisstheskyx**_

_**Child at Heart Forever**_

**Thank you to everyone who also added this as a favorite and is following. Thank you! ****Everyone's support really is what helps motivate me to keep writing. **

* * *

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 29**

Cana sat at the bar, her expression filled with boredom. "The guild's so quiet today. Where is everyone?"

Mira looked around at the nearly empty hall. "Jet and Droy went out to run an errand for the Master, Max is out cleaning the pool, I believe Gajeel was helping Levy fix the bracelet-"

"Whoa whoa whoa. . Gajeel and Levy?" Cana smirked. "So he's 'helping' her 'fix' the bracelet?"

Mira beamed back. "That's what I'm told. It's about time they finally spent more time together."

Cana smiled into her drink. "Keep going, what's everyone else doing?"

"Elfman and Lisanna are out on a mission today, getting back tonight." Mira frowned slightly, "Natsu was training Wendy most of the day, and-"

"Wait, why is he training her?" Cana asked bringing her large cup to her mouth.

"Oh, well Master asked him to; he said it was the best way to keep him busy so he didn't realize that Lucy went on a mission with Erza."

Cana choked on her drink, giving in to a fit of coughs. "What do you mean Lucy went on a mission with Erza?"

Mira looked up from the plate she was drying. "Yeah, Lucy said she needed to check on something but the master wasn't too keen on letting Natsu go out so quickly after he just got back."

Cana stared at Mira, mouth agape. "So Natsu has no idea that she's not even-?"

"Hey guys I'm back!" Natsu walked into the guild hall and gave Mira and Cana a large grin. "Man, today was awesome!" He looked around. "Where's Lucy?" He sniffed the air. "Doesn't smell like she even came here today. Weird, I thought she was going to be busy."

Cana's eyes widened as Mira stated simply. "She's with Erza."

"With Erza? What'd she do to deserve that?" Natsu asked with a cringe.

"Must've been something bad." Happy added mischievously.

Mira deadpanned. "She offered to spend the day with Erza. CHOSE to."

Natsu shrugged. "Oh, whatever. Where are they at?

"Oh! At Fairy Hills!" Cana lied before Mira could say anything more.

"I'll just head over there and-"

"Natsu did you forget?" Cana stared at him, eyebrow raised. "Guys aren't allowed to go to fairy hills." He gave a simple shrug of indifference. She continued with a smirk. "I'm sure Erza would be upset if you went over there." His face flinched with impending pain.

"Do you know when she will be done?" Mira and Cana looked at each other before shaking their heads. Natsu sighed. "I'll just go wait at her house for her to come back."

"Natsu, you really shouldn't be breaking into her apartment like that. " He slid off of his stool and gave them a cheeky grin before leaving the guild hall with Happy trailing behind.

Mira shook her head. "Whew! That was close! He almost found out."

Cana shook her head, bringing her glass to her lips before emptying the contents.

* * *

Natsu groaned as he arrived to Lucy's apartment. He wandered to the fridge and stared at the newly restocked contents. He closed the door, only taking out the rotisserie chicken and a fish for Happy, and walked to her couch. He stretched across her bed after inhaling his food and soon found himself dozing off.

Natsu was awakened by Happy tossing in his sleep. He shook his small friend awake. "Hey buddy, it's just a dream. Wake up!" Happy's black eyes opened and stared at him with confusion.

"Where are we?" He sat up and looked around. "Oh, it's already starting to get late." Natsu looked out the window to see the sky darkening. "Where's Lucy? You'd think she would be back by now." Happy frowned.

"I'm not too sure." Natsu said slowly. Feeling Happy's gaze burn into him, he jumped off the bed and dusted himself off. "Well, let's go check out the guild, I'm sure she's there now."

Happy flew into the air, letting out a jubilant, "Aye!"

While walking towards the guild, Natsu spotted Wendy and Carla. "Hey! How ya feeling?"

Wendy turned and gave him a small smile. "Oh, hi Natsu, Happy." She rubbed her arm. "I'm a little sore, but I think it was worth it. I learned so much today!"

Carla glared at the pink haired dragon slayer. "I think you should have held back a little on your attacks, don't forget that she is just a little girl and an ally!"

Natsu laughed with a boyish grin. "Sorry about that."

"You don't sound sorry." Carla grumbled.

Natsu ignored her comment as he slammed the guild doors open. He scanned the room, his smile faltering when he didn't see his favorite blonde. He sniffed the air as he made his way to the bar. "Hey Mira," he looked around again, "has Lucy come back yet?"

She frowned. "No, I'm sorry Natsu."

Cana stumbled over and threw her arm over his shoulder. "Why are you so worried?" She slurred out with a hiccup.

Natsu shrugged. "I'm not worried, it's just weird that she's gone all day."

"Well you do call her weird don't you?" Cana's lopsided grin played across her face.

"I suppose your right." He sat down at the bar and ordered some food. Pushing the food around on his plate, he looked around at the now lively guild. Laxus was being pampered by his 3 followers; Jet and Droy were failing in being secretive as they spied on Levy and Gajeel talking. Gray had returned and Juvia was following him around with adoration.

Natsu finished his plate just as Pantherlily sat next to him and ordered a Kiwi Juice. "You look a little down tonight Natsu."

"Just a little bored I suppose. Lucy spent the day with Erza over at Fairy Hills and I don't have a way to go get her."

"Why don't you ask Happy to go get her?" Natsu gave the small Exceed a surprised stare. "They don't usually care if we go there and I've heard that Happy visits them frequently."

Natsu's face lit up. "Thanks! That's a great idea." Natsu leapt off the stool and raced across the guild to where Happy was serving Carla a small cup of tea.

Mira and Cana glowered at him. "Thanks!"

He stared at them in confusion. "What? Did I do something wrong?"

Mira sighed. "I suppose not."

Cana groaned as she climbed off her stool and made her way to the door. "I've got this."

Natsu returned to the bar full of energy and ordered another round of dinner. Pantherlily gave Mira a quick glance before asking. "So, not heading over there?"

"Actually, Happy said he wasn't ready to leave yet. Something about making progress, shouldn't take too long."

Another hour passed before Natsu was able to drag Happy out and they headed towards Fairy Hills. Happy made his way through the halls. He turned the corner to see Cana walking out of Erza's room. "Hey Happy."

"Hi Cana!" Happy flew through the air towards the door.

"Where ya going?"

"Natsu asked if I could go chat with Lucy."

Cana gave Happy a serious look. "I wouldn't bother her tonight." The Exceed's eyes grew large. "Erza's not in a very good mood."

"D. . Do you know when Lucy will be leaving?"

"Well, Lucy made it sound like she was going to spend the night."

Happy stared at the door for before letting out a rejected, "Okay." He slowly flew out of the building. Cana smiled to herself, slumping in the doorway with a sigh of relief. She looked out the window and watched them slump away down the road towards town.

* * *

The next morning, Cana laid her head on the bar with a loud groan. "Mira! When are they coming back?"

Mira giggled as she put another drink on the counter. "Today I hope. Cana shifted her head so her chin rested on the bar. "Seriously, they need to get back fast. I can't keep doing that for Lucy."

Mira leaned over. "So what was Erza's room like?"

Cana glared at the takeover mage. "Did you know she has a trap system put in place if intruders come in. Apparently there is some special way to open the door. I barely made it out with my life."

Mira frowned thoughtfully. "Really, she has one of those?"

"Apparently Laki must have made it for her." She took a long draught of her beverage. "Well, regardless, now I need to fill in Erza and tell her why I entered her room."

"Yeah, I'm sure she isn't going to be too happy." Mira glanced over towards the door. "Oh thank goodness. Welcome home Lucy! Erza!"

Lucy bounced over to the bar. "Hey guys!" She looked around the guild hall. "Is the master here?"

"He hasn't come in yet today." Mira leaned forward with interest. "How'd the mission go?"

Erza pat Lucy's back, almost knocking the blonde over. "Lucy here did a fine job." Her mahogany eyes were bright. "I look forward to doing another mission with you."

Cana slammed her empty cup on the bar. "Well next time I'm not going to cover for you!"

"What do you mean cover for me?" Lucy asked, straightening herself.

Mira put her hand up to stop the brunette; however the card mage waved her off. "Natsu didn't know about you going on the mission, did he?"

Lucy looked guiltily over to Erza. "Well, no. We really didn't mean for it to last more than just that day."

Mira clenched her teeth. "Girls. . I think you should-"

"Well he was looking all over the place for you."

Erza frowned. "Why, is something the matter?"

Mira's tone grew nervous. "Girls-"

"No, he just assumed you were still here. We told him you spent the night at Erza's."

"I feel bad that he was lied to. I didn't want that to happen." Lucy pouted.

"Uhhh. . Girls!"

Cana leaned against the bar. "By the way Erza, there is something I need to tell you."

"GIRLS!" Everyone turned to face Mira. She gave them all an apologetic look before pointing behind Lucy.

Lucy turned, shocked to the pink haired dragon slayer glaring at the group.

* * *

**I want to give everyone a big apology for this taking so long for the next chapter. To be honest, August and September have really pushed me to my limit. I'm going to go into all of the details, but to summarize: Major appliances and electronics in our house have been on the fritz (Freezer, TV, computer -lost all of my story chapters I was working on-), we had to put down our dog, my grandfather passed, my grandmother from my other side moved out here from across the country and I've been helping with that, school started and that's been overwhelming, I've been sick for about 3 weeks. That's just the big stuff. Ugh. **

**Now that I finally have a chance to finally breath, I will be focusing on trying to update my stories. I love you all and miss writing and seeing your responses. Thank you everyone for the support and patience. Next chapter, for the 30th chapter, I'm planning on starting a quest/mission that I've been planning since chapter 10. I'm really excited for it and I hope you all and hold on just a little bit longer. The next chapter will probably be a bit longer and with the essay and math test this next week, it will be coming on my immediate back list of important things. I will try to update A New World as soon as I can find time to rewrite everything that was lost with my frustrating computer situation. **

**Please let me know what you all think of this chapter. My original version was in Natsu's POV, but when I lost it all I was too frustrated and decided to try a different perspective. **


	30. Chapter 30

**I want to thank everyone for reviewing and adding this as a favorite or following this story. I will include a personal Thanks in the next chapter to individuals. **

**Happy 30 Chapters Everyone! **

* * *

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 30**

Lucy walked slowly, staring down at the path in front of her. She heard a loud crack and cringed, looking over her shoulder she saw Erza give an apologetic smile. Lucy glanced quickly over to the disguised Natsu before returning her gaze to the ground.

_I shouldn't feel bad about going on a mission without him._ She bit her lip; _although he was lied to about it. I know Erza and I technically didn't lie, but I suppose not telling him about it was close enough._ She sighed and stole another glance at the dragon slayer.

He stared ahead, his jaw clenched and eyes serious. Happy walked next to Lucy, wearing a small outfit Mira made that looked somewhat similar to Plue. Lucy sighed and gazed at the trees around them. The sun filtered through the trees, flickering from the moving leaves. She inhaled the fresh forest smell and smiled as the wind brushed her hair across her face.

"We are almost to the next town." Lucy glanced over to Natsu, unsure of how to respond. This was the first anyone had spoken in over an hour.

"Who are we meeting up with again?" She heard Gray question somewhere behind her. She listened to Erza recite the details of the mission back to him.

As the trees cleared, her breath caught in her throat; waves of nostalgia and homesickness overcame her as she stared at the mountain looming ahead. Gray stopped with a frown. "What's wrong Lucy?"

She shook her head. "N. . Nothing. It's just. ." She looked around from their view on the hill. "It's all changed so much." She caught Natsu's confused gaze and continued to walk.

"Ahh. ." Erza pointed towards the mountain. "This is near Lucy's mansion isn't it."

She could feel everyone's eyes on her back as she continued walking. "Yeah, actually, this whole town was built during the 7 years we were at Tenrou. Since the property was so large, they sectioned some of it off and built small towns on several parts. This is the one closest to the property, at least that I'm aware of."

"Have you been here before?" Natsu asked with curiosity.

She couldn't help but smile at his response. "When I was little, yes. This actually used to just have a few houses of workers and I believe a few small farms. Father didn't want too many farm animals being so close to the mansion and 'taint' the image of it."

Erza caught up to her and gave her a quizzical look. "How'd you know about this town if you haven't been here since childhood?"

Lucy giggled. "Well, I do want to buy the mansion back one day. I just simply did some research. Actually, taking such large parts of the land off has reduced the price, so that's a plus." The group continued to walk in silence as they neared the quiet town.

Erza motioned for the group to follow her as she stepped behind a few trees. "Okay everyone," she pulled off the blonde wig, "let's go into the town as Fairy Tail mages. I'm sure that it'll be safe from this point on."

Happy clambered out of his costume while Natsu and Lucy turned the dials of their bracelets. Gray ripped off his brown wig before tugging his shirt over his head.

Erza glared at the ice mage. "Gray, when I said let's go in there as Fairy Tail mages, I didn't mean to leave that as an open invitation for you to strip."

Astonished, Gray looked down at his bare chest before noticing the shirt in his hand. "What?! When did that happen?"

Natsu crossed his arms before letting out a "Tscht".

"What?" Gray took a step towards Natsu, an angry aura surrounding him. "You wanna go?"

Erza's warning tone rang out. "Gray. ."

Natsu cracked his knuckles, a wicked grin spread across his face. "We didn't finish things the other day."

Gray tossed his shirt, his smile matched Natsu's as he bent into a crouch. "You're right, wanna finish it now?"

Natsu needed no further invitation as he launched himself at the ice mage. Before either could land a strike, Erza grabbed their heads and slammed them into each other. "Knock it off!" Lucy winced as she watched the two crumple to the ground. "This is not the time to start a fight."

Natsu rubbed his head and glared over to Gray. "We aren't starting anything, we're continuing it."

Erza gave Natsu the death stare. "Well, now is not the time to continue it. Use whatever pent up energy you have towards the mission."

Lucy sighed and shook her head remembering what caused everything.

_Natsu stood, horrorstruck, behind Lucy and Erza after overhearing everything. He lifted his finger accusingly towards Lucy, hurt expression covering his face. "Y. . You went on a mission without me?"_

_Lucy gulped and turned to Erza for help. "Uh. . Yeah. Well. . It's a bit complicated, you see.."_

_Erza stepped forward. "Master requested that I take a mission with Lucy and to retrieve something on the way back. My apologies for it taking so long, the party we were security for went on later than originally expected."_

_Natsu glared at Erza, before turning to Lucy. She felt her heart clench with sadness at his eyes. She opened her mouth to respond only to be interrupted by Gray. "Oh hey Lucy, Erza. You guys back already?"_

_Natsu turned angrily to the ice mage, "You knew?"_

_Gray raised his eyebrow, giving Natsu a skeptical look. "It was obvious, I'm sure most of the guild knew." A mischievous grin appeared. "Of course, it's no surprise that someone with ash for brains wouldn't put it together."_

_Natsu clenched his jaw. "What'd you say?"_

_"__What, now you can't hear either? It must be hard to not hear AND think; but then again, there's a lot that you can't do."_

_Natsu took a step towards Gray, fist ablaze. "I can pummel you into the ground."_

_Gray scoffed, the temperature around him dropping as he tossed his shirt to the side. "I'd like to see you try!"_

_"__Request granted!" Natsu charged at Gray, punching him across the face. _

_Erza turned towards Mira and ordered a slice of cake. Lucy gaped at Erza. "You're not going to stop them?" _

_Erza shrugged, "Let them work off some of that pent up energy, I know Natsu has had a lot lately being cooped up here." Everyone looked over to see Gray kick Natsu into a table, shattering wood in every direction._

_Lucy nodded and looked over to Cana, who was flipping over carefully arranged cards. Happy hopped onto the counter to peer over. "What are you doing Cana?"_

_She took a long drink from her cup. "Just trying to not have any more surprises today."_

_Happy looked over to Lucy with a frown. "So where'd you both go on your mission?"_

_Lucy stole a glance at the fighting guys before turning back to the Exceed. "Just went to do security for some ritzy party."_

_"__The Master also asked us to run an errand and wanted the both of us for it." Erza added, eyes glued to the kitchen door. A smile spread across her face as Mira walked into the room and handed her a small plate with a delicate slice of cake. She picked up her fork slide it into the spongy cake, bringing a small bite to her mouth. _

_Cana grabbed her mug and Lucy's hand and leapt away from the bar quickly as a loud crash rang across the room. Lucy looked up from the ground to see Gray sprawled across the bar, Natsu standing several feet away rotating his shoulder with a crooked grin across his face. Gray rolled off the counter, landing on his feet. He stood and formed a sword of ice before charging back to Natsu. Lucy leaned forward to stand only for Cana to hold her shoulder. "I think it's better we stay here for a little longer."_

_Lucy gave her a questioning look before following the card mages's gaze. To her horror, she saw Erza's shaky hands wipe cake off of the front of her white, button up blouse. Lucy gulped and shrank back. Erza stood and turned to face Natsu and Gray; snarling out their names she leapt across the room._

Lucy shuddered at the memory. Gray shoved his shirt over his head once again and the group set out towards the town.

Lucy trailed behind everyone, staring in amazement at how different everything was since she'd last been there. The old stables and farm houses were still there, just closer to the outskirts of the small village. A large clock tower and water tower stood proudly in town. Lucy stared in amazement at the shops that lined the streets, catching herself stopping several times. "Lucy, hurry up!" Erza's voice rang out. Lucy rushed to catch up, murmuring apologies.

They arrived in front of a black smith's shop. The owner came out eyeing them wearily. "Ya'll mages from Fairy Tail?"

Erza stepped forward, sticking her hand out to shake the man's hand. "Yes, my name is Erza, this is Gray, Natsu, Lucy and Happy." The man ignored her hand as he eyed them all, lingering on Lucy slightly longer than the rest.

"Took ya long 'nough." He huffed out as he turned and walked back into the building. Erza lowered her arm and followed. They walked inside of the shop as the man went behind the counter and grabbed a closed sign. He went to the door and shoved it in the window before flipping the latch. He turned and glared at everyone before storming past them and disappearing behind a curtain."

Happy sniffed indifferently. "Rude."

Lucy stared at the curtain with uncertainty. "Are we supposed to follow him?"

Gray shrugged casually taking a step forward. "Let's find out." He stepped behind Natsu and shoved him through the curtain earning a string of swears in return.

After a few long moments, Natsu stormed out. "What the hell, Gray?!"

Erza stepped forward. "Are we supposed to follow him?"

Natsu looked over to Erza thoughtfully. "Oh, yeah. Ha! Sorry." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Idiot" Gray ground out as he walked through the curtain. Erza grabbed Natsu's arm as he pulled it back to punch Gray, giving him a warning glare. He lowered his arm and followed the rest behind the curtain.

The man sat in a large armchair that had several tears along the seams. He pounded his fingers impatiently against the armrest. "Took ya long 'nough!"

"Sorry." Lucy bit her lip. "So we are ready to hear more about this request of yours."

"Are you from 'round here?"

Lucy's eyes widened. "I. . Uh . . Yes."

He nodded. "Though' so." He turned and gave a scrutinizing glare to the rest of the team. "There are some people wreakin' havoc on the mountain near here and I want them taken care of as soon as possible. Not too many people in town know of it, but my brother is up there tryin' to start a mining business and can't very well work safe like with those hooligans." The team nodded. The man gripped his chair and howled. "Get movin' already! That's what I'm payin' ya for!"

* * *

The team soon arrived at the mountain base; Lucy frowned. "What are we even looking for?" Her eyes traveled up the landscape of the mountain as she let out a sigh.

Erza strode past the group. "We will follow the path until we reach the mine."

"How do you know it will lead there?" Gray asked, raising his eye brow.

Erza stared straight ahead and answered confidently, "It will be."

Gray and Natsu followed Erza, exchanging glares. Happy flew up ahead to see where the path lead. Lucy stared towards the direction of the mansion. She heard Natsu's voice, "Hey Luce! C'mon!"

The walk dragged on for another 5 minutes before everyone started to worry over Happy not returning. Natsu sniffed the air. "Hey, I think I smell him this way." He walked off the path and soon disappeared into the trees.

"Natsu!" Lucy jumped through the bushes behind him. She stumbled over a new dirt path and frantically looked around. "Natsu! Happy! Where are y-"

Gray crashed into her, sending them both to the ground. Erza stepped out of the bushes to give them an unimpressed expression. "Now is not the time to be lying around. Both of you get up and look for Natsu and Happy.

Gray slowly rose, dusting himself off. "Why don't you go look for that flame brain?"

Erza stepped out from the bush, eye brow raised challengingly. "What was that?"

Lucy watched Gray gulp as he looked away. "I didn't see which way he went." She too started to dust herself off looking around. The bushes shifted and Natsu appeared carrying Happy; Lucy's eyes widened. "W. . what happened?"

Everyone rushed to his side as he stared down at the blue Exceed. "I think he's Just sleeping, I'm not sure what happened, but whoever did this is going to pay!"

Everyone wore a solemn face as they followed this new path higher through the mountain; Natsu cradled Happy in his arms. Natsu stopped in front of a large entrance to a tunnel, the lights clearly broken. Natsu's hand twitched and suddenly it burst to flames. He held it forward as the group entered cautiously.

Erza leaned closer to the dragon slayer. "Smell anything?"

He took a big whiff. "I can't smell anyone over this other strong odor that's lingering."

"What's it smell like?" Erza questioned quietly, breathing in deeply as well.

"I'm not sure, it's familiar though." He continued walking, his face flickering in the firelight. Occasionally he would glance off into the distance as if he heard something. Lucy grabbed torches that the group past, slowly handing one to Erza and Gray before finding one for herself. She trailed behind the group with caution, trying to stare into the darkness to make out their surroundings.

Natsu stopped shifting Happy in his arms. "I think he's waking up." Extinguishing his flame, he lifted the Exceed carefully. "Hey buddy."

"Natsu. ."

"What happened?" Natsu voice cracked.

"I don't quite remember." Happy lanced around in a daze. "Where are we?"

"In the mine." Lucy said, leaning forward.

"In the. . mine?" Happy asked slowly, earning a nod from Lucy. "In the. . . MINE! Oh no!"

Lucy fell back in surprise, clutching her raging heart. "Geez Happy! You didn't have to scare me."

Happy looked frantically around. "We need to get out of the mine now!"

Erza looked around cautiously. "Why is that?" The entire mountain seemed to come to life, violently shaking. "Let's go!" Erza instructed, racing towards the exit.

Lucy scrambled up and ran as fast her legs allowed. Their lights grew dimmer and she frantically tried to pull energy to catch up with the group. Letting out a squeal of surprise, she felt her foot slip.

* * *

Natsu made it out of the tunnel first, looking down at Happy in his arms. Happy jumped down as Erza and Gray soon appeared from the entrance. Natsu's gaze traveled towards the entrance. "Where's Lucy?"

Gray frowned. "I thought she was right behind us."

Happy anxiously hopped around. "But the bad guys!" Everyone else turned to stare at Happy, listening intently. "They said something about capturing the fairy tail mage!"

Erza gave Natsu a serious look. "They might be after you again."

He tensed up. "If they are after me, they might go after her." As he lifted his foot to rush towards to entrance, a deafening boom knocked them over. Coughing, Natsu shot to his feet and rushed through the dust, running into a rock wall. He frantically felt around. "Lucy!" his throat burned as he coughed. The smell of explosives lingered throughout the air. His hands urgently scoped the wall. "No no no no NO NOO!"

Erza appeared next to Natsu. "Natsu what is it?"

He pounded against the rocks with determination. Erza stepped back and stared before her. As the dust cleared, to her horror, it revealed the entrance collapsed. Erza and Gray stood frozen for several long minutes as Natsu battered his frustration against the obstruction. Tears filling her eyes, she changed into her Heaven's Wheel outfit. Gray followed suit and summoned a large hammer of ice and they joined Natsu's pursuit to save their celestial mage.

* * *

**Okay I hope you all like this latest chapter! I'm actually super pumped about the next several chapters! **

**Do you guys think this has to do with Lucy since it's so close to home or the Dragon Demolishers? =)**

**Please let me know how I did on that guy's accent. If it's terrible, I'll just change it to normal.**

**Thank you everyone for your continued support on this story. I have a test for Math this week and unfortunately I have to start a new essay this weekend for English. Plus my coworker just left so now I'm working extra. I promise I'm really really trying to update my others as well. I will try to update this one soon too, especially since I always feel guilty leaving it with a cliff hanger. (I know I do it a lot but it totally motivates me to write faster)**

**I'm also on Tumblr (p3pp3rmintt) feel free to look me up if you want to chat or something, I love talking with other fans and geeking out. **

**Until next time loves.**


	31. Chapter 31

**Thank you everyone for your continued support for this story. I want to give a special thank you to those who reviewed:**

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**I also want to give a big thank you to Juviasaurus for your support and for being such an awesome friend. I would also like to give a special thank you to Child at Heart Forever, always complementing my stories and recommending them to people. Thank you sempai (That's right, I'm still calling you that).**

**Thank you to all of those who favorite this and are following. **

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***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 31**

Lucy opened her heavy eyes slowly, squinting against the bright light. She blinked sluggishly, shifting her head against the hard surface. Her head pounded with the slight movement. Lucy took long, slow breaths, waiting through the pain.

"Hey Alf!" Lucy stiffened. _Who's voice is that?_ "Come here Alf!" Footsteps grew louder as someone approached. "You told me to call you when there was a change."

"And?" A rough sounding voice replied.

"Well, she opened her eyes and moved her head."

She heard shuffling and felt someone's breath hit her cheeks; Lucy fought the urge to gulp down the anxiety building up in her throat. "She ain't movin' now." The breath disappeared and she heard the footsteps depart. "You're probably jus' seein' stuff."

She heard a chair move across a stone floor nearby and the creak of someone sitting in it. Lucy slowly opened her eyelids just enough to gain a sliver of sight. Now that her eyes were accustomed to the bright light, she discovered that she was clearly out of the cave now. She allowed her eyelids to widen ever so slightly. The wood ceiling above looked poorly managed, almost as if it could crumble anytime. She shifted her eyes to the man in the chair, a soft sigh of relief escaped when she noticed his attention was caught by the book in his hands.

She opened her eyes fully and stared around. She clearly seemed to be resting on an elevated surface, felt like a sturdy table or counter. She shifted the hand the man couldn't see. The jangle of metal and the pressure on her wrists startled her.

"So you are awake." She turned, eyes widening at seeing the man's sinister gaze. "ALF! She's definitely awake!" Lucy shifted against the table, the shackles on her wrists and ankles letting off the obnoxious alert of her movements. She observed the skinny blonde from across the room, her brown eyes matching his own with defiance.

Hearing the loud footsteps, Lucy turned to see none other than their client stroll in. "YOU?!"

His slanted smirk spread across his face as he approached her. "Nice of ya to wake up."

"What do you want with me?" She questioned her captors, glancing from one to the other. The men looked at each other, not daring to say a word. Lucy frowned. "Seriously? You don't even know?"

The blonde man stood up and tucked his book into his oversized jacket. "Actually, we have good reasons to hold you here. Our next step is just debatable." His eyes flashed dangerously as he stepped closer to her. "We were just waiting on the boss to decide. I believe he was going to call us any minute." He pulled out a communication lacrima and held it out for Lucy to see.

Lucy shifted against her restraints, eyeing the lacrima warily. The man set it down on the chair he was previously sitting at before wandering off. The other man, whose name seemed to actually be Alf, was digging through drawers of the cabinet. He pulled out a large, rusty kitchen knife and pointed it at her. "I wonder how much blood I can spill before the boss will call."

Lucy heard the other man's response from the other side of the room. "I wouldn't do it, we should wait for him to tell us what he wants us to do."

Alf chuckled dangerously, licking his lips as he watched Lucy squirm. "A few cuts wouldn't ruin any plans the boss has."

The lacrima became clouded as a hooded figure appeared. "What news do you have?" The voice was all too familiar to Lucy. She gulped as she stared at the large orb. The man seemed to notice her and let out a sinister laugh. "That's great! Welbert, take this to stage two."

Alf leaned forward curiously. "Stage two?"

The man Lucy assumed was Welbert pulled the book out of his jacket and handed it to his friend. "This, see." He pointed at the pages, flipping through a few quickly before stepping in front of the lacrima. "Sir, we shall start immediately."

"Don't screw this up."

Alf straightened himself. "What if the others come? Her friends?" He gave Lucy a probing stare.

The cloaked figure chuckled. "Well, I recommend you hurry before they arrive. Honestly, it would be much harder to finish this task if they interfered."

Welbert stood up. "Understood."

The figured disappeared in the lacrima as it began to clear again and the men turned and stared at Lucy. Welbert sauntered over to the cupboards and started to pull ingredients out, walking back to where Lucy laid and casually spread out the supplies. He started to grind different herbs together and pour in liquids that Lucy had never seen. Her eyes widened with surprise as he suddenly turned towards her. Grabbing her head, he tilted the edge of the container to her mouth; she clenched her jaw in protest.

Alf dragged the dagger down her leg, emitting a scream from her; the liquid almost choking her on it's way down her throat. She gagged and coughed as he dropped her head against the hard surface. She could hear him silently grinding more herbs and pouring liquids next to her. The room around her seemed to shift and her eyes were heavier. She turned so she could watch him work on the potion, trying to see which ingredients were added. She watched as he seemed to be adding a wax like substance to the mix.

Alf walked over and handed him the knife. Welbert let the blood drop slowly into the potion moving his mouth as if saying an incantation. Her eyes widened when she realized she couldn't hear anything besides a loud buzzing noise. He took the remaining blood on the knife and added it to a small rope like object. Lucy's sight faltered as she watched him slowly add the object into the waxy potion. Welbert grabbed her face and stared into her eyes, clearly pleased with what he saw. She saw his mouth move again, saying something to Alf. Her thoughts felt like they were walking through a foggy, muddy bank; she felt helpless.

Pushing herself, she willed her head to turn away and stared across the hazy room. Everything seemed to turn and twist around her, blending everything into a swirl of colors. Bright flashes rampaged through her vision as the table she was on shook dangerously. Her head felt almost like it was exploding, making her want to vomit.

She opened her mouth to yell but nothing came out. _Natsu. Erza. Gray. Happy. Please, help me._

* * *

**So, I'm completely just over school. Not literally, just mentally. It's been back to back essays and tests and this is me procrastinating my essay writing so I can bring you all more of this story. I look forward to winter break so I can go crazy on all of my stories. I hope you all love this chapter, sorry it's a bit shorter than intended. The next one will be longer I promise. **

**Thank you all for your patience and support. I love reading your reviews and I'm curious how many of you will figure out what's about to happen. Not going to lie, I've been waiting to write all of this out for such a long time, I'm seriously stoked so I don't think it'll be as long of a wait. Leave a review and let me know what you think so far and guess on plot. =)**


	32. Chapter 32

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 32**

Natsu tested the air once again with his nose, following Lucy's scent. "It's getting stronger." He listened intently, blocking out the crunch of his comrades' footsteps through the forest. He craned his head when he heard the faint echo of men talking. He froze and focused at the soft feminine voice that responded. _Lucy._ He heard her voice again and took off through the forest, leaving behind Erza and Gray with their complaints.

Natsu burst into a small clearing to see an old wooden house that was clearly on its last limbs. He slowly walked over to the window and peered inside, frowning at the caked on grime. Letting out a growl, he pulled his arm back ready to punch a hole through the glass.

"Natsu!" Erza's sharp voice whispered behind him. "Let's check another entrance." Letting out a sigh, he continued to creep around the building to find another window. Erza skillfully jiggled the frame so they could move the glass silently. Natsu helped Happy in first, quickly scampering in behind.

Once everyone was finally inside they made their way through the decaying room and slowly nudged the door open. Natsu inhaled, catching the scent of Lucy's blood. He let out a low growl, causing Erza to put her hand on his shoulder. "Hold on just one more minute." They peeked through the crack in the door.

Lucy was chained to a metal table, the only thing that looked sturdy in the entire place, while a man was next to her mixing together ingredients. "That jerk!" Happy angrily whispered "He wasn't a client after all! It must have been a set-up from the start!"

They watched as the man grabbed Lucy's face and observed her closely, a sadistic smile etching across his face. Natsu felt his fist shaking as his rage built up. The man dropped her face and turned back to his project. She slowly turned her head, eyes landing on them. Natsu forced a reassuring smile through his grim expression. She stared in a daze, making him grow uneasy. Unable to hold back anymore, Natsu burst through the door, hands ablaze. "What the hell are you bastards doing to her?!"

Their client's eyes widened in surprise as the other man lite the wick to a candle he had in a bowl, clearly ignoring the enraged dragon slayer. Their client rushed at them with a large metal pipe and swung it at Natsu who simply blocked it with his forearm. The pipe wrapped around his arm like a snake. Natsu pulled his arm back, pulling the large man with it, and punched him in the face. He landed with a crash across the room. Natsu turned towards the man at the table as he let out a fierce growl. Erza and Gray slowly stepped behind him, eyeing the man dangerously.

He stared at them with challenging purple eyes that were shaded under his disheveled blonde hair. His gaze shifted from each person slowly, his smile widening all the while. The candle's fire flickered green, illuminating a glow over Lucy and the man. He started chuckling before placing his hands on Lucy's arm.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Natsu yelled as he lunged. The candle started to let out crackling sparks that spread across the room like wildfire. Natsu reached his arm out grabbing Lucy's wrist. The room seemed to twist, the floor beneath him ripped away from him. He squeezed his eyes shut as his motion sickness weakened him. Hearing Erza's voice, Natsu managed to look to his left to see her and Gray holding onto Lucy's ankle. They seemed to be struggling to keep a tight grip. Colors streamed around them and a deafening bell chime boomed out. The floor seemed to rush all too suddenly under him and he collapsed to the floor.

He held his head as he shakily got to his feet. The table with Lucy was gone, in it's place was the two men that they were just fighting. Natsu looked around frantically. "What the hell happened to Lucy?" The room they were standing in was a small cabin dining room that looked well maintained. The men slowly got to their feet with groans.

"Are we. . Is this the same house that we were just in?" Erza asked with astonishment.

"How could it be?" Gray replied, slowly standing up.

The thin blonde man gave a small nod to his comrade before turning around and walking towards the door. "Come back here!" Natsu roared as he leapt across the wooden table. The large opponent bashed his weapon across Natsu's head, leaving him to crash to the floor. He threw a lacrima onto Natsu's head that was emitting a green smoke that quickly filled the room. Erza rushed forward, grabbing Natsu before pulling him outside. Gray and Happy followed behind with loud coughs.

Erza frowned as she looked at the landscape. Happy's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "I wonder what happened to Lucy." The blue exceed stared at the house with worry etched across his face.

Erza smiled. "I'm sure she's not in there."

Gray rubbed the back of his head in thought. "You sure? I'd hate to imagine that we would have left her in that death fog."

Erza stared at the dragon slayer draped across her shoulder. "I think I know where she is, let's go." They followed the trail through the forest away from the mountain. Soon they found themselves out in the valleys and walking through the bustling village like gardens of the mansion.

Happy stared in amazement. "I thought that this whole area was abandoned ever since Lucy's dad lost his fortune."

Erza didn't reply and continued walk. As they approached the doors of the luxurious house, Natsu started to stir. "Good afternoon, how may I be of assistance to you?" A butler opened the door with a smile.

Erza gave a short bow. "I'm here to meet with the Heartfilia's. My apologies, I have not made an appointment."

The man turned his gaze to the pink haired youth across Erza's shoulder. "Do you need any medical attention?"

Erza glanced over to Natsu. "He'll be fine; although, would it be too much to request a private sitting room while we wait?"

The man bowed and requested the small group to follow him. Once they entered the house, Natsu sprang from Erza's shoulder and glanced around. "Where is she?!" The butler stared in horror as Erza's fist came crashing down on Natsu's unsuspecting head.

"My apologies for the disturbance, we are ready to follow you." She picked up his limp body and tossed it across her shoulder once again.

The butler nervously settled them into the lounge before rushing away.

Happy looked sadly over to Natsu. "Erza, why'd you have to do that?!"

She stared around the room in awe, "It had to be done, he was acting rash and would have ruined everything."

Gray stared out the window with a scowl, ignoring the conversation around him. The door clicked and the team looked over, mouths dropping at what they saw. The familiar blonde haired brown eyed celestial maid dressed elegantly in a fitted dress. Gray shifted to his feet. "Wow, I guess I can imagine you in something like this."

She tilted her head in confusion at his question. "I'm sorry have we met?"

Erza bowed slightly. "My apologies, I don't believe we've had the pleasure." Gray and Happy stared incredulously at her. Erza turned and gave them a warning look. "Miss Heartfilia, I was wondering if we could sit down and talk with you for just a moment."

She stared suspiciously at them before correcting the redhead. "Actually, it's Mrs. Heartfilia." The group stared blankly at her. She cleared her throat awkwardly. "My name is Layla Heartfilia, I'm Jude's wife. I'm sorry that he's unable to meet with you today, he is-"

"YOU'RE LAYLA?!" Gray felt his jaw drop.

Erza gave him a pointed look before staring curiously over to the blonde. "That does make sense, you do look much older than Lucy."

Layla shot Erza a bewildered look. "I would think so, she is only a child." She looked at them carefully, her hand shifting to her waist. "Is there something I can help you with? It's clear that you are all wizards, wizards that I have not met before and yet. . You seem to know about my family."

"Mom?" All eyes went towards the doorway where a small blonde haired child with large, chocolate brown eyes stood clutching her doll. Layla shot them a warning look before making her way to the door.

"Lucy dearest, what are you doing here? I thought I asked you to finish your studies while I checked on who came to call."

The small girl stared at them curiously. "Oh wow, are they wizards like you mom?"

Layla smiled, "Yes, they are wizards."

Lucy's eyes fell towards the couch, eyes growing wide. "Oh my! What happened to him?" Before anyone could stop her she scampered over to the couch and stood next to Natsu. Her mother was quickly at her side and pulled her back a few steps.

"Lucy, I think we should let him rest, he must have had a long day."

The small girl puffed out her cheeks in thought before poking Natsu's cheek. His eyes snapped open and landed on the small girl.

* * *

**Thanks everyone for continuing to read this story, sorry for this chapter. I was so excited to finally write it that I didn't edit it. Blah! Looking at my schedule, I'll go through it hopefully this next weekend. I was too excited to not post it so I'm very sorry if this is a bad chapter. I hope you like the plot at least. I wonder if any of you can guess what's going to happen. **

**Please leave a review and let me know what you think, I'd love some honest opinions. **

**Love you all!**


	33. Chapter 33

***Disclaimer: I do not own the story or the characters from Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima owns them.***

**CHAPTER 33**

Layla pulled her daughter back a few steps as the pink haired stranger on her couch slowly sat up. His olive eyes were intensely focused on Lucy. She cleared her throat, catching his attention. His eyebrow arched slightly before shifting his gaze back to her daughter. "I'm Layla." He nodded slightly, not looking her direction. Her eyes caught the red emblem on his arm. "You're from Fairy Tail?" She turned to the others, noting the emblem across the red haired woman's armor and the dark tattoo across the dark haired man's chest. Her eyes widened as her face grew warm. "Sir! Your shirt!"

The dark haired man looked down and gave a soft yelp as he scrambled for his missing shirt. The other woman bowed slightly. "Mrs. Heartfilia, first I would like to know if I can call you Layla?" She nodded slowly. "I would like to introduce myself to you. I am Erza. This is Gray and Happy. Over there is Natsu." Layla looked curiously over to the rose haired guy who was now admiring the room.

"What business do you have here?" She shifted and sat on the sofa, pulling Lucy to the seat beside her. "Please, have a seat." Erza pulled Gray over to the couch and the sat next to Natsu. Once everyone seemed to be settled, Layla repeat her question.

Erza shifted in her seat, clearly determining the best thing to say. "I would like to start by asking you what year this is."

Layla stared, dumbstruck. "What?" The group watched her, serious expressions adorned their faces.

"776." Lucy said enthusiastically, happy to be a part of the conversation. Layla glanced down at her child with a tender smile before nodding slowly to the group.

"The year is 776."

Erza thoughtfully looked at her hands, contemplating what to say. Gray looked over to Happy. "So you haven't even hatched yet."

Happy puffed out his cheeks before flying over to Natsu, wailing. "Natsu, Gray's being mean!" He landed on his shoulder and followed the dragon slayer's gaze to the small Lucy. She sat staring back in amazement.

Gray crossed his arms and grumbled out, "How's that being mean?"

Layla cleared her throat. "Lucy, dear, why don't you go and play?"

She pouted her lips up to her mom, her large brown eyes pleading. Layla eyed the group again before turning back to her daughter. "I would prefer it if you would go play Lucy."

Happy leapt across the couch. "Natsu and I can play with her while you talk to Erza."

Layla looked disapprovingly over to the pink haired mage. "I'm sorry, but I just met you all. As if I would just let some strangers be alone with my child."

Natsu frowned. "We would never hurt her."

Layla pulled a key from her waist. "Capricorn." The goat spirit appeared and bowed in front of her. "Please take Lucy into the other room."

Lucy pouted as she slid off the couch and gave the group a long look of disappointment. Once the door was closed, Layla turned back to the group. "I think we should get back to the topic. What business do you have with me?"

Erza scooted towards the edge of her seat. "This is going to sound crazy." Layla nodded slowly, seeming to prepare herself. "We come from a different time."

Layla's eyebrow furrowed slightly. "How?"

Gray shrugged. "We aren't entirely sure. There was this other mage and his magic is what brought us here."

Layla frowned. "Why here?"

Natsu crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes bore into her. "They're after Lucy."

Layla stiffened. "Why would they be after her? She's only a child."

"That's the thing." Erza glanced at Natsu before turning back to the celestial mage. "Lucy is part of our guild in our time."

Layla stared at the group in bewilderment. "She. . she joins a guild." Her gaze travels down to her hands. "She joins Fairy Tail." The group watch her process the information, jumping when she starts laughing. "Sorry." She finally managed. "It's just so funny."

Natsu scowled. "What's so funny?"

Layla shook her head, her blonde curls bouncing. "Nothing. Nothing." Her brown eyes looked over the group, a warmer glow in them. "Tell me, what is she like at Fairy Tail?"

Erza smiled. "Well, she is strong."

"She loves to write." Gray added slowly."

Natsu leaned back in his seat. "She's weird." Gray and Erza give him a pointed look; he ignored them and continued. "She's always complaining when we go on missions, but we can tell she is enjoying. She has all sorts of weird animal spirits and can summon more than one at a time. She never likes it when we read her books and is always kicking us out of her apartment." His eyes travel back to Layla. "She looks a lot like you."

Layla stared back in shock at Natsu, before letting a small laugh escape. "That does sound like how she might be. You mentioned spirits. Celestial spirits I'm assuming?"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, she has a bunch of them. A crab man, a cow, Virgo."

"Don't forget about that horse man too! Plus she has Loke." Gray added. Layla furrowed her brow in thought. "Oh right, Leo."

Happy chimed in, "And Gemini and that goat man and Plue."

"Don't forget about her clock guy, and that sleepy old one." Natsu continued with a laugh. "She also has Aries and that one that sings. Don't forget about her compass duck. She has that scorpion guy with the sand moves too."

Erza stared thoughtfully at the group. "Aquarius too." Natsu and Happy shuddered slightly.

Layla let out a hearty laugh. "I see Aquarius hasn't changed much if just her name can get out that reaction. So, sounds like she has…. 10 zodiac spirits?"

The group nodded with a loving smile. Layla nodded thoughtfully to herself. "Thank you for taking such good care of her, I can tell that she means a lot to you all."

"AYE!"

"So you came here to warn us about those men?"

"We came to protect Lucy." Natsu said seriously, all signs of his former ease gone.

"I think I can protect her myself." Layla said slowly.

"Mrs. Heartfilia."

"Layla. You may call me Layla."

"Layla." Erza slowly said. "If I must say, they came from the future intent of attacking her."

Layla narrowed her eyes. "How did you come from the future? Did you use a device? You said it was through another mage's magic. Who is this man?"

"We aren't entirely sure. They are working with this bad group." Happy said sadly. "He mixed some potions together and then the room felt like it was spinning."

Layla nodded, seemingly relieved. "Okay." She let out a slow breath. "I understand that you want to help, but I don't want the staff to know. Their worry will reach my husband and I'd hate for him have to be involved." The group sat silently in front of her, their expressions reserved. Layla internally shuddered of their lack of expressions. "Tell me, what is Lucy's relationship with. . us?"

Erza and Gray looked away avoiding her gaze. Happy's eyes looked like they were about to start flooding the room. Natsu sat grimly in front of her, expression dark and serious. "Do you really want to know?"

Layla shook her head slowly, wondering what those expressions could possibly mean.

Natsu let out a shaky sigh. "She loves you both." He finally was able to say.

She looked down to her hands, thinking over their reaction. "That wasn't fair, I shouldn't have asked. It's better I don't know more about the future."

The group nodded hesitantly. Natsu stood up and stretched. "Do you mind if one of us stays with Lucy?"

"Just until this whole mess is sorted out, of course." Erza added hastily at Layla's reaction.

Layla frowned thoughtfully. "As long as I have a spirit with her as well, that'll be fine." Natsu walked towards the door. "Would you like me to have someone show you where she is?"

Natsu waved her off. "It's fine, I'll find her."

Layla shivered at the implied ease it would be for this stranger to locate her daughter, and stood to follow him. "I'll join you." Natsu didn't seem phased and continued out the door. Layla followed him curiously the rest of the group slowly trailing behind.

They soon found themselves in a large library where Lucy was perched on a large chaise lounge, engrossed in a rather large book. She looked up at hearing the group enter, a large smile spread across her face. "Are you all here to play?"

Layla gave her daughter a sad smile, guilt clouding her delicate features. Happy flew across the room. "Aye! What do you want to play first?"

She launched her small body off the chair and grabbed the blue Exceed's paw. "YAY!" She cheered jubilantly. "What do you want to play first?"

Layla stepped in her path, blocking her from the door. "Lucy dear, I need you to stay inside today. Can you do that for me?" She pouted, looking out the window before turning back to her mom with a disappointed nod. Layla smiled. "Capricorn, will you please stay with her?"

The spirit bowed from across the room and followed Lucy as she pulled Happy out the door. Natsu followed shortly behind. Layla turned to Erza once it was only the three of them remaining. "Natsu, he seems to be close with her."

Erza nodded. Yes, they are very good friends."

"Natsu's actually the one who brought Lucy to our guild." Gray said casually before earning a smack across his head from Erza. "What the hell?! Why'd you hit me?"

Erza glowered over him. "Your clothes." Gray looked down with a startled yelp when he found he was only in his boxers.

Layla shook her head with a smile. "Oh Lucy, what type of friends do you have?"

* * *

**Finally, out of school for the semester. Now that it's Christmas week, I'll be a bit busy, but I plan on posting another chapter by next Sunday, I should be able to write another chapter. **

**Thank you all for your continued support. Leave me a review and let me know what you think of this latest chapter! I hope you all enjoy the direction of the story, even if this was a slow chapter, more or less, just informing Layla. I wish I could have had more of her in the show/manga so I hope my version can be satisfactory. =)**


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